Tag: La Rioja

And so to Haro; arguably Vanya’s favourite place in Spain.

This must have been our 4th or 5th trip to Haro in as many years. I’ll, therefore, keep this entry short. For more information on Haro you need only review my earlier blogs on the town.

We arrived in Haro this time during the late afternoon on a Wednesday and we found it the quietest we had ever seen it; not that I’m complaining. We divided our time that first evening on the Plaza de la Paz and wandering the tapas area before settling on an early night back at Campingred de Haro. I think the drive across Aragon had taken it out of me.

The next day was more like the usual Haro. The day commenced with us replenishing our supplies down at the Mercadona and then spending a leisurely hour or two over lunch in the courtyard of the Muga, sampling the wine and local cheeses (and some not very nice mussels but the less said about that the better). The Muga is fast becoming a regular feature of our visits to Haro and the afternoon was as pleasant an occasion as ever. We received a real surprise as we were leaving when one of the kitchen staff shouted out a goodbye to “Mr Bean” (Beanie). He remembered us from our previous visit to Haro in the Spring.

The Thursday evening was a repeat of the previous night with us dividing our time between Plaza de la Paz and the tapas area but it was an altogether livelier occasion. Of course it was a Thursday and, as in Calle del Laurel in Logrono, the locals tend to celebrate Thursdays with a few drinks and a tapas. It’s a bit like Thursdays in the UK used to be when most people received their pay packets on the Thursday afternoon. Showing my age now.

There were considerably fewer tourists in Haro during this visit and we spent much of the evening talking to the locals (Nala and her walking wheels attract a great deal of attention) and so it proved a late night. The streets were all but deserted as we made our way back to the Van after a very pleasant evening.

Surrounded by countless vineyards, Briones is a small medieval hilltop town on the Ebro river in La Rioja. It is yet another ‘Pueblo mas bonito de Espana’ and thoroughly deserving of the accolade. It is quintessential rural La Rioja

Our ascent to the top of the town was nowhere near as steep as it had been in Ujue and Nala coped admirably in her wheels. A small maze of narrow cobbled streets and lanes, lined by ochre coloured stone buildings, led us to the town’s main ‘square’, the triangular shaped Plaza de Espana. A few of the town’s more imposing buildings are to be found on or immediately adjacent to the plaza – a very large church (the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion), the Palacio del Marques de San Nicolas (now being used as the town hall), the Palace of the Gadea family and, just off the plaza on Bergareche Street, the Palace of the Quincoces (where Henry II of Castile and Charles II of Navarre are said to have met to arrange the marriage of their children). There’s also the ubiquitous town fountain (this one is surrounded by old wooden wine barrels of every shape and size), a small general store and a couple of even smaller bars.

There was some activity in the square as we arrived but it wasn’t too busy. Some scaffolders were very slowly dismantling scaffolding from the recently sand blasted church (what remained of the scaffolding was going to ruin any decent photo opportunities there might have been of the exterior of the church – not that I’m any good at taking such pictures). Another man (a mechanic?) working on a car paused to ask us about Nala’s wheels (I think he wanted to impress us with his English – and he did). An older woman was carefully selecting fruit from a heavily laden tray outside the store and two other women were selling bric-a-brac from a market stall. There were also small groups of men sitting, drinking coffee and conversing loudly outside each of the two bars. We chose a table in the sunshine outside the quieter of the two bars and I unhooked Nala from her wheels while Vanya went off to order us drinks. She likes to practise her Spanish in Spain, you know?

The principal feature of the town square is the enormous 16th century Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion with it’s wonderfully ornate baroque tower (so reminiscent of the cathedral in Logrono). For a town with less than 800 people, it is unbelievably and, dare I say, unnecessarily large. I am not very religious but standing inside this mostly Gothic style church and looking up at the high ceiling with it’s thick supporting columns was almost overwhelming. There is a real majesty about the place. Add in the three sizeable naves, numerous chapels, a beautiful altarpiece and pipe organ and I defy anyone not to be impressed by the church. Put a coin in the donation box marked Organo and the church lights up and the organ starts playing. Fantastic.

Oh! And inside the church is a model of the town as it perhaps was in medieval times.

Saint John is the patron saint of Briones and so it seemed appropriate I look in on the 18th century hermitage in the town which is dedicated to him (Ermita de San Juan Carlos de los Remedios). I read that the hermitage is not often open to the public but for once I struck lucky…

Whilst looking for the hermitage I stumbled upon the remains of a small, medieval keep. A spiral metal staircase has been fitted inside it so as to afford views across the surrounding plain but, if I’m honest, the views don’t amount to much.

There was time enough to return to the plaza and enjoy a quick cup of coffee and some chocolate biscuits bought in the store and then it was on to our next port of call, Penafiel…

So this was our 4th visit in the Van to Logrono. This will be a short post because (a) we were only there for the one night and (b) there’s not much more I can add to what I’ve written in previous blogs about our favourite city in Spain. Yes, Logrono remains our favourite city and this is largely due to the good food and wine and, most important, the wonderful reception we always seem to get from the locals, especially when on Calle del Laurel. This year was no different except that we seemed to attract a bit more attention with Nala in her wheels.

Once again we stayed at the Camping La Playa alongside the River Ebro. It is very convenient being so close to the city and the owners or managers do seem to have improved the place. Indeed, I was almost inclined to add this site to my list of recommended campsites because the showers have been much improved (unlimited hot water) and the staff at reception were far more welcoming than was previously the case (or so Vanya said – it was her who checked us in) but, no, we’ll wait until we’ve seen the site again in the high season. The site was very quiet this time around.

It being a Monday, Calle del Laurel was also very quiet. This suited us with Nala being on her wheels and, as has been said before, not having a great deal of spacial awareness. The pinchos were as good as ever.

One good piece of fortune this year. For the first time, I was able to gain access to the Iglesia de Santiago el Real on Barraciepo Street. I’ve passed the church at least twice during previous visits to the city and it was closed on both occasions. The current church building was erected in the 16th century after the original, very humble structure (dating back to when Constantine decreed Christians should no longer be persecuted) was destroyed by fire. It is said that Santiago (Saint James to you and me) preached in this area and that his disciple (Bishop) Arcadio built the original church in honour of him. I’ve no idea as to whether this is true or not but Logrono’s city fathers believed it and, as a consequence, the 16th century church building holds great significance to pilgrims travelling the French Camino.

The current exquisitely carved altarpiece in the church, which dates back to the 17th century, features Santiago on it’s first floor not once but twice; first on horseback and then again after his decapitation (the other carvings on the first floor of the altarpiece are of Saint Peter and Saint Paul). Santiago is also depicted on horseback above the main entrance to the church.

Of all the churches I have seen in Logrono (and that includes the cathedral), this is definitely my favourite. It is difficult to explain why I should say that because I have seen many more imposing and beautiful churches but this one felt, well… warm.

This was an unusually quiet and short stay in Logrono but; it was no less enjoyable and we did take time towards the end of the evening to simply sit and chill opposite the cathedral on Plaza del Mercado with a couple of glasses of fine wine. What’s not to like about that?

Tomorrow we plan to revisit Penafiel to the south (where it is even warmer) but, on the way, we will stop at the small medieval hilltop town of Briones.

This will be a brief entry and limited mostly to photos. The facts are, this was a very short visit to Logrono and I am over a month behind in terms of bringing this blog up to date. At this rate Tour 8 will be underway before I finish the Tour 7 entries. So sorry.

It was time to make our way back to England for our friend’s wedding but we could never visit La Rioja without taking time out in Logrono, however limited. During previous visits we had used one of the city’s two NH Hotels and we had stayed over for the Thursday and Friday nights which are the best nights for pinchos (tapas) – pinchos are half price on Calle Laurel every Thurday. Because of time constraints we would do this visit differently. We would spend just the Sunday night in Logrono (it would be interesting to see what Calle Laurel is like on a Sunday evening) and, having just left the Hotel Teatrisso, we would give the NH Hotels a miss and, instead, evaluate Logrono’s campsite, Camping la Playa. The campsite is within easy walking distance of the city centre and, more particularly, Calle Laurel.

Just yards from the campsite there’s a pedestrian bridge (Punta de Hiero) across the River Ebro and it leads almost to the centre of the town. It took little more than 10 minutes for me to reach Calle Laurel.

There was time enough to check out the Cathedral of Santa Maria although these particular photos were taken during Tour 4. During this visit the front of the Cathedral was covered in scaffolding.

There was also time to revisit the local graffiti but, there wasn’t too much different from our last visit.

And then it was back to Calle Laurel for those wonderful mushrooms. These were from the Angel Bar

I was pleasantly surprised with Logrono on a Sunday. Many restaurants were open during the afternoon and there were a great many people out and about, families mostly. I returned to the city centre during the evening with Vanya and it was a little quieter but, again, the majority of the restaurants and the pinchos bars in Calle Laurel and surrounding areas were open.

We enjoyed our Sunday night on Calle Laurel but Vanya and I much prefer the rush and excitement of a Thursday, Friday or Saturday (especially Thursdays when there are fewer tourists and the pinchos are half price). There’s a warmth and joy about Calle Laurel on Thursdays which we’ve not seen replicated in any other Spanish towns or cities that we’ve visited and; it sadly it isn’t there on a Sunday evening in Logrono either. Sunday is more about eating.

Of course, our dogs may think differently. They seemed to appreciate a quieter Calle Laurel.

Vanya back at her favourite pinchos bar, Meson del Abuelo.

Once again, sorry for producing such a simple entry. I think that to some extent I took the easier way out because other Logrono entries can be found on this site and I am loathe to repeat myself.

The previous nights wine tasting session in Cuzcurrita de Rio Tiron saw Parabolas para Volar, a Rioja made with 100% Garnacha grapes, declared the undisputed winner of the ‘Battle of the Wines’ and it prompted Vanya and I to immediately book a wine tour and tasting session with Bodegas Lecea for the very next day.

This was the Parabolas para Volar which prompted Vanya and I to visit Bodegas Lecea in San Asensio. The wine was one of a limited edition of just 500 bottles and was not therefore included in the standard wine tasting session…

… However, six of these seven wines were included in the tasting session.

This proved a most generous wine tasting event. We were presented with a wide range of wines including a Gran Reserva, a dessert wine and one speciality wine (which I wasn’t quite so sure about, where the grapes had been pressed by the villagers bare feet) and all were served with appropriate nibbles. The tasting session was well managed and enjoyable but it was the tour itself which set this event apart and which I found totally enthralling. Bodegas Lecea is one of just three or four wine producers in Spain where, except for the growing of the grapes, everything to do with the production of the wines occurs underground (in a 500 year old network of caves). We were underground throughout the whole experience except for the wine tasting which took place in the wineshop above ground.

I should explain. Bodegas Lecea is located in the side of a hill in the Las Cuevas neighbourhood of San Asensio. Inside this hill are more than 300 cave cellars which were dug out by local farmers in the 16th century such that their wines could be stored at a constant temperature of 13 degrees centigrade. The Lecea family currently maintain four connected but very distinct cellar systems and continue to make their wines underground in the traditional way in concrete vats.

The caves are many metres underground and stretch in all directions. The tragedy is that no map of the cave systems exist and extending the current caves can be dodgy.

The tour’s focus was towards traditional wine making techniques and included elements as diverse as how and why grape vines are trained (see left) and why wine used to be stored in large pig skins (right).

Left: Large chimneys were dug out to help release the toxic fumes given off by the fermenting wine. Right: Some wines in the cellar are more than 60 years old. The Lecea family open one of these older wines each year although the colour tends to be brown and the wine must be consumed within 15 minutes or it will oxidise.

Our tour of the bodega ended in the wineshop with the wine tasting, which I have already described as being as well managed as any we have previously attended. I would highly recommend the tour and tasting session.

Unfortunately for Vanya the wines were mostly red but I did alright out of that.

What else is there to say about San Asensio? There are a couple of things which are perhaps worth adding.

Firstly, on the last Sunday of every July San Asensio has a wine fight, the Battle of Claret, not unlike that in Haro on 29 June. Some 30,000 litres of claret are donated to the town by the wineries and cooperatives in the area. Town officials supervise the loading of sulphate machines, water guns, buckets and anything else that can hold wine and then commence battle against anyone who passes by. Once everyone is covered in wine (and suitably sozzled) the participants dance their way through the town to the Plaza Vieja to continue the celebrations and tour the local bars for yet more wine and, of course, pinchos.

Secondly, I was told the San Asensio Monastery is worth a visit. We didn’t have time for that after a well meaning employee of the Bodegas Lecea directed me the wrong way out of Las Cuevas through a series of almost impossible lanes and alleys. To make matters worse, the sat-nav in the Van once again chose to play up and completely failed me. I persevered but it took over an hour to navigate my way out of the rabbit warren that is this part of San Asensio. Next time we’ll walk.

It was with some reluctance that we left Penafiel and made our way to Haro. We had enjoyed our four days there and would have stayed longer but for the dogs being booked in to see a vet in Haro (rabies top-ups) and, besides, Vanya had reserved us a room at her favourite hotel just down the road in Cuzcurrita de Rio Tiron for two days.

Vanya has a soft spot for Haro, more so than me. I think Haro is an increasingly tired looking town and needs a facelift but it remains one of those places we are happy to come back to because we love the Barrio de la Estacion wine village. This really is the wine capital of the Rioja Region and it wasn’t long before we were back in the wine village, sitting outside Bilbainas (Vanya’s favourite bodega in Haro), enjoying their wares and purchasing more of her favourite sparkling wine. From there we moved to the CVNE Bodega such that I could sample their reds. We’d not visited CVNE before but I was not disappointed and, after sampling a Gran Reserva, I was happy to buy a few bottles. The Van is filling up.

The Compania Vincola del Norte de Espana (CVNE) and their Gran Reserva. Needless to say, Vanya stayed with their white Rioja – Monopole.

Hitherto we have favoured the old part of Haro, around the Plaza de la Paz, not least because of the cafe bar and pinchos culture which surrounds the area (and, yes, we enjoyed that once again) but this visit we spent longer in the more developed part of the town over by the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de La Vega. Most visitors intent on checking out the churches here favour the Parroquia de Santo Tomas (the Parochial Church of Saint Thomas) which dominates the old town but I consider the Basilica far more interesting and it’s altar is truly beautiful.

Looking from Jardines de La Vega towards the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de La Vega.

… and the inside of the Basilica with a detail from the Altar.

That ceiling in the Basilica is something else.

Okay, so the main entrance to the Church of St Thomas and it’s altar are also pretty impressive.

Left: That’s the Church of St Thomas as seen from the Jardines de La Vega and Right: there’s the same church as seen from an almost deserted Calle Santo Thomas.

The other very impressive aspect of this newer part of the town is the Mercado adjacent to the Jardines de La Vega. It is not a particularly large supermarket but in terms of content it is one of the best in this part of Spain and comes as close to a Waitrose as you will get here.

In terms of what there is to see and do in Haro, I’ll not risk repeating myself here but will, instead, refer you to the previous blogs I have written about the place. You need only search ‘Haro’. However, I will add that despite it’s tired appearance (Please, give it a facelift!), Haro remains a pleasant town to visit and we will continue to return.