La Rioja: Logrono

From Aviles, we bus halfway across the country to the wine region of La Rioja, giving the Basque Country a miss, which I now deem to be overhyped, overtouristed, and not particularly welcoming, not that I'm particularly excited about La Rioja either:

• Home of Rioja wine. It seems there is nothing else to do besides wine tasting at bodegas.
• Capital Logrono is on the French camino. Getting into town on the Saturday before Mother's Day, we had to have a 4-night stay in order to secure our lodging.
• Logrono, on the Ebro, borders Basque Country to the northwest, and Navarre to the northeast. The tourist office in Logrono more or less disavows the existence of their neighbors, let alone being forthcoming with helpful information.

After much deliberation, we ended up having one day trip to Basque Country, and one to Navarre, and spent the rest of our time in town, eschewing outings in La Rioja, including missing an opportunity to bag a couple of UNESCO monasteries.

Logrono is a pleasant enough town itself. Being the capital of an agriculture center, it is not particularly long on cultural heritage and venues. Drinks/tapas and shopping are featured prominently. Having stayed away from wine tasting, we got an unexpected wine tip. We were coming back from Monte Cantabria, passing by a community garden, and happened to strike up a conversation with a man who just finished working his plot. Pretty soon, he recommended La Rioja Crianzas, "can be had for 1.5 euros - oh, you Americans probably don't care about cost." Really?! I have been wasting our money on Reservas?

Luckily we had an early bus to catch to Logrono as we were awakened not-the-first-time-this-trip by the street washing crew outside below our room window. There was no direct bus so our route was Aviles to Ovideo to Burgos to Logrono.

Yellow rapeseed fields, green wheat fields, and vineyards on each side of the road as the bus gets close to Logrono, La Rioja, Spain.

Sound check for the evening concert (15 second video) in front of the Cathedral. Welcome to Logrono!!!

We arrived in Logrono around 4PM, just as a few of the city's free museums were reopening for the "afternoon". This painting titled el chiquillo (the kid) by José Pueyo Matanza caught our eye.

A Saturday wedding in the bustling Old Town.

Various bridges over the Rio Ebro. First the Stone Bridge at night.

The Iron Bridge, night and day.

The French Camino goes right through the middle of Logrono.

The rock concert, presented by City Hall, is about to start. We take a seat on a park bench behind the drummer.



A few architecture pics. First the Teatro Breton.

The Market Hall - Mercado de San Blas.

Fountain.

A mural.

The Bus Station is an Art Deco building.

May 1st is Labor Day in Europe and this year it's also Mother's Day in Spain; the first Sunday in May.

A short 10-second video of the May Day March.

And another 22-second video.

Check out this guy's sign holder rig. It reminds me of a battle flag in Kurosawa movie.





There is a musuem with a very cool animated "show" located in remnents of the old city wall.

There are 2 free wine museums. One features winemaking dating back to Roman times; and another, old underground wine cellars that backed up to the Ebro River.

One day we walked, partially on the French Camino, up through vineyards and wheat fields to an old fortification on Monte Cantabria for a view of the city and windmills on distant ridges.



Myself at the Monte Cantabria summit pole.

Windmills.

Fellow walkers.