OK - Let’s just start off by saying this was probably our favorite area to visit so far on this trip, and one of our favorite wine regions (and we have seen many) in the world.
A couple great things happened that helped - mainly, we just by chance happened to be staying in Laguardia Spain during their annual celebration of of the Assumption de la Virgin - a public holiday on August 15th in Spain. The hotel we stayed in provided the perfect spot to watch and participate in many of the events. But more on that later.
The drive to Laguardia from Santillana del Mar took about 3 hours - an easy drive and very beautiful passing through small towns, hay and sunflower fields. Then, you enter the Rioja wine region, where there are endless views of vineyards everywhere you look. There are something like 7,000 vineyards, and around 700 different Bodegas (individual wineries) in this area. Many are small and for most you need a reservation to do a tasting, but there are also some where you can drive in and they will welcome you without a reservation.
Laguardia is a small hill town in this region. A “walled” town from the Middle Ages it has kept it’s old appeal while also showing a bit of modernization. There are something like 200+ cellars/caves below the city. While they are used as wine cellars now, long ago they were used to hide women and children from invaders while the men fought battles above. Now, they do not allow vehicles in the city partly for fear of damage that could be done with the network of caves underground.
There are two beautiful churches on either end of the city - The Church of San Juan and the Hermitage of Santa Maria. Both are very impressive with very different features and both conducted over a period of centuries through medieval times. Only about 3 blocks from each other in a town of maybe 1,000 people?? Amazing.
When we checked into our hotel, the person at the front desk told us the town is known for it’s clock and the “funny thing” it does. Our room gave us a great view of this and of the festival activities that we had no idea we would be able to participate in. Laguardia had some of the best Pintxos (like tapas, but usually on a piece of bread) of anywhere we have been - some very creative ones for sure. and of course the wine was great as well. Dancing in the town square the night before the big event in town - the running of the bulls - and the music went on until 5:00 AM. Our hotel had let us know it could be loud and even provided each room with earplugs (which we did not employ). One cute local couple got us both out there dancing with them - we saw them on the street two days later and they came right up to us to give a hug! Made us feel like part of the local community.
The running of the bulls is an event that happens in many towns throughout Spain and especially in Northern Spain. Of course a few years back we went to Pamplona for this “famous” event - which was interesting, but a big mistake as it was way too commercial with hundreds of thousands of tourists. This local event was fantastic. Even a couple days before they could not tell you an exact schedule - something I think was intentional as an effort to keep it low key. The bulls (1 to 3 - and of a much lower caliber that those used in Pamplona) were let loose to run in the city - and they could run freely for about an hour. Through the town square and around a 2 block area or so. When it was time to head back to the truck, they let out a bull with a bell on (probably “Old Faithful”) to round up the others - it was great. We were of course up on our balcony with a great view of the activities, and taking (too many) pictures. We later found one of the boys (in the green shirt) and shared pictures with him. He and his friends were soooo excited - it was great!
We also visited several wineries in this region - most of which were excellent. Luis Canas had possibly the best wines, while Bodegas Solar de Samaniego had an excellent tour (and good wines). There is a video here of the painting of their giant concrete wine storage units - they are beautiful - and one of the paintings was of our tour guide. We also visited Bodegas Amaren, which is related to Luis. Canas - “Amaren” is “for the mothers”, and was dedicated to the wife of Luis Canas who was a big part of the winery’s success. Fabulous tour here and excellent wines as well.
When we were not drinking wine or watching the local fiesta events, we took a few hikes around the area. It was easy to find places to explore - mostly close to the town. There is a seasonal lake (dry in August) just below the town with a great trail around it, and also you can walk the local roads seeing many of the vineyards. Using our AllTrails app is really helpful for taking these hikes. Not sure if the below link will work or not, but it takes you to one of our hikes I recorded using the app.
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/morning-hike-9ec51f6--187?p=-1
From Laguardia we drove to Vitoria-Gasteiz, a larger city about 25 miles north to stay for a few nights (on points) in a Marriott AC Hotel. This city is the capitol of third region, and has an old history of its own. There is an old town (that had been walled at one time), the Cathedral of Santa Maria and the Church of San Pedro. We explored the town a bit, and also got caught up on laundry, shipping, etc. The city has a great art culture, with many beautiful murals on buildings, and also murals on garage entrances - not sure, but it seemed like if there was actual art on something, the "taggers" would leave it alone. Anyway, it was good to see.
Since we still had our rental car, we took one more trip back to the beautiful wine region, and also spent a day visiting the Anana Salt Valley. It is estimated that salt has been harvested here for over 7,000 years, and many chef’s believe this to be the best salt in the world. In addition to a few pictures, I’m including a link to a video from YouTube that shows this incredible process.
All in all, the 10 days we spent between the wine region and Vitoria-Gasteiz were maybe 10 of the best so far on this trip. But - there is still so much more to come. Next stop - Bilbao - and then on to San Sebastián.
Don’t forget to take a look at the photo album for this part of the trip and the videos.
Hope everyone is having a great summer.
Take care,
Tim & Eileen