Category: Spain

What is to say about Logrono that hasn’t already been said in our earlier blog following our last visit? We love the place. Yes, it has comparatively little “to see and do” when compared to other similar sized or even smaller Spanish towns in Spain but, it isn’t at all spoiled by tourism and it is so very much alive especially on a Thursday night at Calle Laurel and… we had booked into a hotel (the NH Logrono Herencia Rioja on Calle Murrieta) for the Thursday and Friday nights. Yahoooo!

Despite what I have just written about the relative lack of things to see and do in Logrono (here I am talking historical buildings, monuments, etc), I took the time during our stay to revisit what is around – the parks, bridges, churches, etc – and I was fortunate enough this time around to get inside the Concatedral de Santa Maria de la Redonda. It proved a disappointment not least because of the renovation work going on inside the church. One whole side of the inside of the church, including the altar area, was almost completely covered in scaffolding.

I was also able to get a better look inside St Bartholomew’s but once again I was thwarted in my attempts to get up into the belfry for it’s views over the city. A church service was about to begin as I entered.

I was disappointed not to get up to the bell tower of St Bartholomew’s but there is always next time. On a brighter note, I discovered some great street art at the back of the church…

Of course we attended Calle del Laurel and surrounding areas on both the Thursday and Friday night and the atmosphere and food was again brilliant. There cannot be a more sociable place to eat tapas in the whole of Spain (although they call them pinchos in Logrono, not tapas nor even pintxos). Talking of the pinchos, the absolute best I tried this time were the Grilled Mushrooms at Bar Soriano (three large mushrooms grilled and dripping in garlic butter and olive oil and crowned with a small prawn). They are superb although eating them without dribbling garlic butter is an art I have yet to master. I gave the Pig’s Ears a miss this time but liked the Crujiente de Pollo Corral (fried crispy chicken) and the Torreznos (pig skin) which were served at my favourite pinchos bar of our last visit. One that I regret I didn’t get around to tasting were the Chipirones a La Plancha (plate of squid) which was served at Vanya’s favourite pinchos bar from our last visit.

That first evening back in Logrono we made two forays into Calle del Laurel, pausing in between (for a rest) on the main square. It is the quietest place on a Thursday night.

Later that same evening, as we made our way back to the hotel we paused once again. This time it was to listen to a Spanish rock band that were performing a free concert on a temporary stage at the end of Calle Murrieta. A great end to the evening.

The following day, it was more of the same.

Yes, we thoroughly enjoyed returning to Logrono and I don’t doubt we will be back there again next year.

La Rioja, with it’s 600 wineries and 250 square miles of vines, is Spain’s most famous wine region and the town of Haro is considered the wine capital of La Rioja. There’s reason enough for us to visit Haro but, it also came recommended by a friend.

The drive from Berceo on the LR 206 and the LR207 via Alesanco and Ollauri to our Haro campsite by the River Tiron would have taken well under an hour were it not for the fact that I kept stopping to take photographs on the way. These are country roads with very little traffic (a few tractors is all) and it was too easy to just pull in to the side of the road and start taking photos of the beautiful scenery. The La Rioja Region is about wine and grain and at this time of the year the area is a giant patchwork quilt of gently rolling fields with dark green vines and straw coloured stubble set against a backdrop of the Basque Mountains and a bright blue sky. Not quite Prosecco Hills but, nevertheless, awe inspiring.

Almost everything about Haro is to do with wine. Wineries (known as bodegas in Spain) are all over the place. There is a wine museum, countless wine shops and even the statues and street art throughout the city are linked to wine.

There is also a three day wine festival in the town which includes a wine fight (La Batalla de Vino). The fight is generally a good natured event which takes place between 28 to 30 June, during the feast of St Pedro. There is a big party on the 28th June; the fight takes place immediately after mass on 29 June and; there’s another party (which includes traditional dancing) which takes place on 30 June. During the wine fight everyone wears white and throws red wine over each other using buckets, bottles, jugs, water pistols or anything else that holds wine. Thousands of litres of wine are used in the fight every year. The inaugural wine fight is said to have started in the 13th century after an argument between Haro and the neighbouring town of Miranda de Ebro.

After arriving in Hora, I did my usual preliminary exploration while Vanya stayed with the Van and practised her Spanish. The first place I made for was the Plaza de la Paz (in the old part of the town, of course) to find a suitable place to eat in the evening. Job done; there are plenty of places on the square but she would probably prefer to walk the lanes for tapas.

The most impressive building in any Spanish town is more often than not the church and the 16th/17th century Church of Santo Tomas is certainly the most striking building in Haro. It was declared a National Historic Artistic Monument in 1931. The oldest and most celebrated part of the church is it’s front entrance but I was also struck by it’s magnificent Baroque altarpiece which dates from 1740.

And so to the wine. If you want to tour one of the bodegas in the town (and there are some impressive tours to be had), you have to make appointment but; if it’s just a tasting session that you want, many of the larger bodegas in the Barrio de la Estacion area operate an open door policy where you can just walk in off the streets. Some, such as Balbainas, CVNE, La Rioja Alta and Muga have pleasant seating areas, inside and out, and have food to complement their wine list. It’s like being in an up market Austrian heurige.

I made my way to the Bodegas Muga which is currently open for tasting from noon onwards. I settled down in the very pleasant courtyard at the side entrance to their premises and was immediately presented with a wine list and snack menu. You pay for each wine you try but the prices are reasonable and the measures are very generous. What I particularly liked about the Muga is that the waiters (or are they cellar masters?) all seemed very knowledgeable about the dozen or so wines available and were more than happy to share that knowledge. There were red, white and rose Riojas available at prices between 3 and 12 euros per glass but most wines were 3 or 4 euros. There was even a fizzy Rioja. I tried a ‘couple’ of reds and my favourite by a long way was the Muga Seleccion Especial 2018 at 6 euros for a very large glass (which got even bigger after I ordered a second). I’m no expert wine taster but – intense cherry colour, long, smooth, red berries. I added the “intense” for effect lol. I promised to introduce Vanya to the Muga at the earliest opportunity.

Vanya and I made it to the Muga the very next day for the noon opening. After I had reminded myself as to how good the red wine is, I sampled the white riojas, including the fizzy. Not fussed about that one (I’ve been spoiled by Prosecco) but the other white wines were good.

Of course, Vanya enjoyed the visit to Bodegas Muga as much as me and we had to try another. We moved on to Bodegas Bilbainas for a Vina Pomal. Vanya didn’t like the Pomal and so I had to drink both but she very much enjoyed the fizzy Rioja Lumen Reserva 2019; so much so she bought some to take back to the UK. Given the price, I probably would have liked it too. As it was, I felt rather sleepy for the remainder of the afternoon.

We spent a couple of pleasant evenings during our stay on the Plaza de la Paz people watching but tended to eat at the tapas bars. It wasn’t bad food but it was a poor substitute for Calle Laurel in Logrono. It was time to move on. A waiter advised us to call in on the small town of Laguardia before going to Logrono and we promised we would.

Haro is well worth a visit and we will definitely return. As it is we were only going to stay the one day but stayed two. Next stop Logrono but via Laguardia.

Ezcaray was described to us as the most beautiful town in La Rioja and a ‘must see’ place to visit. It sits on the edge of the Sierra de la Demanda mountains on the banks of the River Oja and is just 30 kms west of Berceo. It was an easy decision to stay on at the campsite in Berceo another night and travel to Ezcaray for the day.

With just over 2,000 inhabitants Ezcaray is not a large town but, it attracts a great many tourists throughout the year. Summer and winter, it is particularly popular with visitors from the Basque Country.

Parking up was easy. There is a motorhome aire at the edge of the town next to the pretty 18th century Hermitage of Nuestra Senora de Allende.

The resident hermit in the hermitage accommodation adjoining the chapel let me in for a look and it is as pretty inside as outside. There’s a magnificent altar piece but an attractive and unusual feature inside is the collection of paintings on the side walls by the artist Arcabuceros Angeles.

We carried on towards the old town and soon encountered the Iglesia Parroquial de Santa Maria la Mayor, which is a fortress like church put together in several phases between the 12th and 16th centuries. It looks more like a small castle than a church and, as we arrived, was locked as tight as any fortress could be. I was having to settle for a couple of photos of the outside of the church but as I readied myself with the camera, I was distracted.

The hotel opposite the church houses the El Portal de Echaurren restaurant, the first ever Michelin Star restaurant in La Rioja and, what’s more, it now has two Michelin Stars. The restaurant’s menu was posted outside the entrance. It claims to showcase the flavours of the Al Rioja region and looks both exciting and reasonably priced. They were charging between 22 and 32 euros for a meat main course and between 29 and 60 euros for a fish main although, no one in their right mind would settle for just a main course in this restaurant. Eating in El Portal de Echaurren is apparently almost theatre. The appetizers are served in the garden, then; guests are shown the kitchens where an entree is produced and then; the principal course is delivered to the guest’s table in the restaurant area. Personally I would like to try their tasting menu with appropriate local wines and Vanya and I have promised ourselves we will return for such an experience. Only issue is that, with a visit to the kitchens being part of the eating experience, I don’t think we’ll be able to take the dogs with us. They have what looks like a sister restaurant almost next door, El Cuartito. Perhaps El Cuartito will be more accommodating?

Promising that we would soon return, we moved on into the old town and with the help of Google Maps quickly found the centre, the Plaza del Conde de Torremuzquiz (the Square of the Earl Torremuzquiz). In fact, the Square is better known as the Plaza del Quiosco (Square of the Kiosk). It is an ancient and picturesque square of half timbered three story buildings in the middle of which is a very odd looking but very pretty bandstand set on a stone foundation. It is this bandstand which has given the square it’s nickname, Plaza del Quiosco. Most of the buildings surrounding the square have been converted into cafe bars and craft shops. It was mid morning; the square was fairly full and there was a great atmosphere about the place. We settled outside one of the cafe-bars and took a pintxos brunch. I mentioned earlier that Ezcaray is very popular with visitors from the Basque Country and that is reflected in the cafe bar menus in the town. What would ordinarily be called tapas across most of Spain and in much of Castile y Leon is termed pintxos in Ezcaray.

I’ve not mentioned that Ezcaray is good for shopping; woollens in particular. Vanya had noticed this almost immediately upon entering the town and it wasn’t long before we were retracing our steps to another square we had crossed earlier in morning, the Plaza de la Verdura. I remember it because the town’s tourist office is to be found on that square. Vanya had seen an admittedly pretty full length woollen jumper. It’s now in the back of the Van.

Ezcaray has long been famous for the production of cloth (particularly woollen clothes and blankets) and at it’s peak in the 19th century had 29 textile factories employing 1,000 workers. That’s almost all gone now with most of the old mills having been demolished but one in particular has been saved. The Royal Cloth Factory of Santa Barbara has been converted into the Ayuntamiento (town hall), a Theatre and a Hotel. It is a striking building full of character.

Textile production has given way to tourism all year round in Ezcaray. The ski resort of Valdezcaray is only 14kms up the road. Valdezcaray was built in 1974 and has a skiable area of 22kms; service stations at three heights (1550m, 1620m and 1850m) and; 6 lifts capable of carrying 15,000 skiers an hour to a total 24 ski runs (including 4 green pistes, 6 blue, 10 red, 2 black and 2 yellow). I didn’t know that they had skiing in this part of the world.

We had a pleasant day in Ezcaray but, while it is a pretty little town, I wouldn’t describe it as the prettiest in the La Rioja region. I think we’ve yet to discover that place. No matter, we’ll be back if only to try one of those restaurants I wrote about. For now, it is back to Berceo and then on to another town which has been recommended by a friend: the wine capital of La Rioja, Haro.

Our next stop was to be in the La Rioja Region of Spain. The plan was to spend a couple of nights in Logrono (a favourite city of ours) but we thought also to visit a few other places in this most underrated part of Spain.

Vanya identified a suitable stop over just inside the La Rioja region by the name of Berceo; programmed the Sat-Nav and off we set … to the end of a dirt track road nearer Burgos than Logrono! Whoops! No problem. An hour or so later we arrived at Berceo and there was still sufficient time for me to check out the town (although with just two bars this is more of a village than a town).

I found a small bar in the town for a drink or two that evening (there’s very little else to see or do) and then started to follow a pilgrimage route, the Ruta de Gonzalo de Berceo, out of town.

Gonzalo de Berceo was a local 13th century religious poet. I cannot tell you any more about him except that his route took me up and then down through some beautiful countryside to the Monasterio de Yuso. I subsequently learned from our waiter where we ate that evening that the Spanish language was first developed by the monks at this monastery. Who am I to argue with him?

I was late getting back from the monastery and we decided to leave the village bar for another time. Instead, we ate in the camp site bar restaurant and the food was fine. The drinks (Estrella beer and a La Rioja Crianza) were excellent.

The friendly local waiter who told us about the Spanish language having been developed at the Monasterio de Yuso was a mine of local information and, while we were eating, he urged us to visit the village of Ezcaray if we were staying on in La Rioja. That settled it, we told the campsite we would be staying on another night so as to both visit Ezcaray and visit the local bar in Berceo.

Our visit to Ezcaray is told in the next blog. This blog ends with me reporting that we visited the local bar in Berceo and that we were well received by the locals and we drank lots of the ‘local’ wine. It came from the Bodegas Berceo in Haro. More about Haro later.