Only three weeks to go before we leave Bilbao! I have so much more to write, however, that I will probably end up posting for a few weeks once I’m back in Britain…
The weather here has been terrible, as it has almost everywhere in Europe it seems. May was pretty much a washout. It wasn’t so much the rain that was the problem: that can be expected at any time in Bilbao. It was the low temperatures and unmitigated greyness which were unexpected and unusual for this time of year. However, things are looking up now, and this week the weather is glorious.
On Sunday, we went on a day trip to La Rioja, in the very south of the Basque Country. We’d been through it on the train from Bilbao to Barcelona last year and had been stunned by its beauty. This is what it looked like from the train
The weather here has been terrible, as it has almost everywhere in Europe it seems. May was pretty much a washout. It wasn’t so much the rain that was the problem: that can be expected at any time in Bilbao. It was the low temperatures and unmitigated greyness which were unexpected and unusual for this time of year. However, things are looking up now, and this week the weather is glorious.
On Sunday, we went on a day trip to La Rioja, in the very south of the Basque Country. We’d been through it on the train from Bilbao to Barcelona last year and had been stunned by its beauty. This is what it looked like from the train
... so we had determined to try and get there for a day this summer. Despite the mixed weather – the day started in fog and rain and ended in beautiful sunshine – the place looked as beautiful as we had remembered it.
La Rioja is a huge plain, surrounded by mountains and entirely covered in vineyards, through which the River Ebro runs. The Ebro forms the southern border of the Basque Country, with the region of Castilla y Leon on the other side of the river. On the north bank of the river, in the southernmost part of the Basque Country, is one of the most beautiful parts of La Rioja, known as La Rioja Alavesa (the part of La Rioja in Alava, the southern province of Euskadi). Some of the finest Rioja wines are Basque wines, made from the grapes of La Rioja Alavesa.
To get to La Rioja, you drive to the very southern edge of the Basque mountains until you reach ‘El Balcon de la Rioja’ on the Herrera Pass - a stunning viewpoint from which you can see for miles across the whole of the plain to the mountains of Castilla. Or at least you can when the weather is good. The road then drops dramatically down the mountain to the plain. There was dense fog at the top so we were denied the full view but as we descended, the fog cleared and we still managed a pretty good view.
La Rioja is a huge plain, surrounded by mountains and entirely covered in vineyards, through which the River Ebro runs. The Ebro forms the southern border of the Basque Country, with the region of Castilla y Leon on the other side of the river. On the north bank of the river, in the southernmost part of the Basque Country, is one of the most beautiful parts of La Rioja, known as La Rioja Alavesa (the part of La Rioja in Alava, the southern province of Euskadi). Some of the finest Rioja wines are Basque wines, made from the grapes of La Rioja Alavesa.
To get to La Rioja, you drive to the very southern edge of the Basque mountains until you reach ‘El Balcon de la Rioja’ on the Herrera Pass - a stunning viewpoint from which you can see for miles across the whole of the plain to the mountains of Castilla. Or at least you can when the weather is good. The road then drops dramatically down the mountain to the plain. There was dense fog at the top so we were denied the full view but as we descended, the fog cleared and we still managed a pretty good view.
Once down in the plain, one negotiates a spectacularly beautiful landscape of vine-covered glacial hillocks, with occasional rocky outcrops with hill-towns built on them. One such hill-town, the main centre of the area, is Laguardia, a medieval town with views across the plain in all directions.
Laguardia, like all the towns and villages in La Rioja, is full of wineries (‘bodegas’): there are hundreds of them across the region, and the area is very much geared towards wine tourism. Several of the wineries have spectacular modern buildings which are the work of internationally distinguished architects. The two most famous are the extraordinary Marques de Riscal Bodega designed by Gehry (of Guggenheim fame), and the Ysios Bodega, designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who also designed the beautiful new bridge across the river in Bilbao.
We only had time to see one of these. We didn´t go to the Gehry, but here is a picture of it pinched from the internet:
We only had time to see one of these. We didn´t go to the Gehry, but here is a picture of it pinched from the internet:
We did, however, go to Calatrava’s Ysios winery. We had an interesting tour of the winery workings, and a tasting of a couple of nice Ysios wines, but the building itself is the major attraction:
Close up, it seems to imitate the mountains behind it, and provides a spectacular backdrop for the vineyards.
The main entrance is stunning.
Looking in one sees lovely reflections of the vineyards:
Looking out from the tasting room, the hill of Laguardia is framed by the surrounding vineyards:
One short day only gave us a glimpse of what must be one of the most beautiful wine-growing areas in Europe. It’s clear that one could spend a delightful couple of weeks pottering around wineries and medieval hill-towns here, and eating and drinking extremely well, and seeing some great architecture. And maybe one day we will….
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