Hiking the hills

 We jumped on an early morning bus to get to Ezcaray, in the foothills of nearby mountains.  It’s a pretty town with alpine style buildings and lots of trails.  And a cow.

Paths leading to Logrono

 We continue to walk paths leading to and from this town.  Yesterday we went to Viana for second breakfast and a chance to walk along the Camino back into town.  

Viana is a lovely town with the notable distinction of being the burial place of Cesar Borgia, son of a pope and a ruthless soldier of fortune.  Hard to imagine these hillsides of grapes and olives 🫒 during those times.

We walked back alongside pilgrims, under hot skies with roadside attractions to pique our curiosity.

Touching the Camino

 The Camino de Santiago threads its way through northern Spain, coming into Logrono and back out the other side.  Part of our plans have been to wander on both sides of town to see what those pilgrims might have been up to.

We’ll continue this exploring in the nearby towns in Rioja.  The weather is warm, skies clear and our fellow travelers are merry.

Buen Camino!

Rioja = wine & food

 

The history of this region is the history of wine making.  We plan to explore this and the accompanying foods. 

We journeyed to monasteries designated by UNESCO due to their contributions to Spanish language and culture.  Suso and then Yuso were in remote locations where the monks wrote down the words and then the music, including Gregorian chants.  

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/805/ 

Thankfully we packed a lunch, since the small town where the monasteries reside close up as soon as the tours end.  A unique town that remains locked up long after siesta!  

The sites are impressive for their place in preserving language, religious culture and music in a place away from some of the chaos that happened in the surrounding countryside.  

Sausages in the Plaza Mercado

 Local volunteer organizations set up stations to serve up special foods, like sausages, sardines or chocolate.  We were most impressed with the sausage folks from Navarra, as they fired up wood grills, led by a woman who’s obviously done this before.

Buen chorizo!

It’s been challenging to find out what is happening where, but this group seems happy to wander & see what we find!

A local community band played popular tunes in a park:

While street musicians entertained with puppets:

Festival continues

 It’s Monday and the city-wide party just keeps going!  We try to catch what we can, only to find more pop-up music & fun times.

One of the thrilling events is the running of “bulls” for children.  On the sidelines the giant pans of paella are prepared.  Fun traditions for all.

The festival begins…

 Knowing that the festival takes over this town, we we grabbed a giant tomato 🍅 before the market closed.  

Spontaneous town bands practicing in the streets start early & continue into the night.

Logrono & festival prep

 After a 4 hour bus trip we arrived in Logrono and found the apartment where we will be based for the next few weeks.  

We explored the tapas scenes:

And now are sorting out how best to provision the apartment to support our tapas adventures.

Gotta love this food paradise!  Ciao!

Flying to Madrid

 

It takes 2 days to fly to Madrid, so we took the route through Frankfurt.  This is definitely the land of Lufthansa!  After visiting a couple of terminals by bus, we arrived at the gate with boarding passes in hand.  

We’ll sort out transport to Logrono for tomorrow, but this evening will check out tapas in our neighborhood 

Spanish connections 2023

Sunny September here in PNW

As I start up this space again to share photos with family and friends, it’s a reminder that there really is no place like home……