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Onward...

28 April

After another breakfast of stale prepackaged bread (PoA thought the host's grumpy beret-wearing father who doesn't think this agroturismo nonsense is a good idea must have made it), we headed southwest, bypassing the town of Tolosa renown for its beans. Gasteiz (or Vitoria in Spanish) is the capital of the province of Araba and also the capital of the Basque Autonomous Community. Araba is apparently also the least Basque of the 3 provinces in the CAV which is reputedly why the capital was set up here. We got here on the feast day of the patron saint, San Prudencio, so everything was closed but parking was free. The special dish of the day is snails and mushrooms but apparently it’s something to be cooked and eaten at home. We made it up to the oval-shaped citadel and walked around the old town. There’s a carnival here similar to San Fermin in Navarra province. At the beginning of the festival, the Celadon – a legendary Basque – (or at least his effigy) parachutes down from a nearby cathedral spire holding his umbrella like Mary Poppins to launch the multi-day festival which results in many days of drinking.


Church tower in Gasteiz citadel.


Comical representation of the feast of San Prudencio


Mural on a building in old town Gasteiz. Wonderful tromp d'oeil.

After a lunch, we made a quick diversion to an old salt mine, we drove to the south end of the province into the north end of the La Rioja wine region. This area was inhabited by prehistoric man so there are a lot of dolmens and settlements (la Hoya), some which we visited just outside the citadel town of Guardia (La Guardia). The town has long had a wine making tradition. Vintners would harvest their grapes and bring them up to their bodegas tunneled under the streets of the town to crush and ferment the grapes, barrel age and eventually bottling the wine. One of the regional dishes is a potato stew made with wine and tomatoes, with perhaps some chorizos.


Salt mine somewhere west of Gasteitz


Guardia


Church steeple in Guardia


View from our agroturismo just outside the walls of Guardia

29 April

Tarting up your winery seems to be big business but we preferred to stay with small wine makers. Marquis de Riscal had Frank Gehry design its new winery building (the PoA thought it looked ugly up close) and Ysios has something funny too.



Ysios winery, north of Guardia


Marquis de Riscal winery in Elciego

After lunch, we made a diversion outside Euskadi to Logrono (a dusty town said to be famous for its peppers) before settling in for the night as a small dead end village of Etaio. We had a marvelous time talking to the hostess – or as much as we could since she only spoke Spanish and our comprehension isn’t exactly stellar - whose family had lived in the house for over 300 years. The loft in the room provided a nice view of the valley and a place to eat a picnic dinner (we didn’t want to stay out late and dinner isn’t served until 9 in rural Spain).


Rooftops of Etoia from our top floor room's loft.

Before leaving Vancouver, we had met a couple who were going to be walking the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage trail. Having learnt more, we were intrigued having seen signs of the trail in Gasteiz. We made a quick tour to Lizarra (Estella) which is one of the main stops along the trail (nothing memorable here).


This way to Santiago de Compostela

30 April

After breakfast where our host Raquel showed us leather-bound ancient copies (2nd edition?) of Don Quixote that had belonged to her family for generations, we made our way to Irunea (Pamplona) via way of Gares (Puente la Reina). This town is another walled city that is still a stopover for the Compostela pilgrimage. The well-heeled pilgrim would stay Relais et Chateaux’s aptly-named El Peregrino while most apparently race for the few hostel spots.


Bridge at Fuenta La Riena (is this a redundant description?)


Pilgirms welcome

Nafarroa (Navarra) is one of the traditional Basque provinces but the Basque influence here is now so low that it did not join the Basque Autonomous Community. The Basque government however reserves a place for it in the heraldic shield and other symbols. Irunea doesn’t have too much old world charm other than the small old town, which is better known to tourists for the running of the bulls to open bullfighting season and the tomato debauchery. Finding that most of the guide-recommended restaurants had closed, we found one staffed and frequented by South Americans of indigenous South American ancestry. We experienced the view of wine as essential in life here: our menu came with either water or wine so we ended up with a bottle of wine for the 2 of us. At lunch.


You wouldn't want to be here when the toros are released to run to the arena.

After lunch, we made our way up the damp and cloudy Pyrenees to the little village of Orbaitzeta. It was certainly a damp and cloudy day, which made driving around a beech forest seem a bit bleak. Wanting some wine, we found the local shop in the village which at first seemed closed (unlit and unheated) but that’s the way of saving power.


View of out of our room at Orbaitzeta. A small but real working farm