Spain First Timers...

I am not a wine person, but I can tell you that the small hill town of Laguardia, which is quite close to the La Rioja wine country, is charming. It's between Logrono and Vitoria-Gasteiz. V-G is the capital of the interior Basque Province of Alava. It's a city with a very attractive, large medieval district.

I found the Basque countryside among the prettiest is Spain, and I'm sure you've heard that San Sebastian is a popular foodie destination. You should be aware, though, that the Basque Country is likely to be substantially cooler and wetter than Barcelona and Madrid in May.

Thank you very much!!! I am going to be working on our details for quite a while I suspect!!!

Wonderful,
We drink primarily Reds...Cabs, Malbecs, Pinot Noirs, and Temperanillo !! With an occasional Dry White in the warmer weather!!!! Thank you!

I too enjoy castles and can give you a number to see in the general Madrid area. Most castles are not in places served by, or easily served by, trains or busses. If you think you'll have a rental car let me know and I'll send you a list. For 2 weeks, you shouldn't need anywhere near 10k. I have an 18 day trip to northern Spain coming up, staying in Paradors for most of it, and it will cost no more than 6k (air fare, hotels, rental car, food). 10k would be a real splurge.

Hi CheriLou, for wine and castles (sorry it is in Spanish). Vivanco Museum(this is in English) and winery are a must visit.

Between Barcelona and La Rioja I would suggest the Jaca and the castles in the area around it. There is the monastery of San Juan de la Pena, which is supposed to be one of the resting places of the Holy Grail. Near by is the Loarre Castle, and the Castle of Javier, birthplace of St. Francis Xavier. To spend the night you might want to try the parador in Sos de los Reyes Catholicos.

Dear Wonderful
I'm very adventurous actually!!! We would be most interested in trying new grapes while in Spain, hence, one of the reasons for the trip .. mentioned what we currently drink which I thought would give an idea of our palate tastes... if you have ideas, we would Love to hear them!
Thx
Cherilou

Cherilou - I have been planning an October trip to Spain and we have reserved this Priorat tour:

http://spanish-trails.com/?vh_accommodation=wine-food-tours/wines-of-catalunya-doq-priorat

Traylaparks This looos great! Thanks very much!!!

You're welcome. I couldn't find anything comparable for Rioja. This company has been very easy to deal with via email. We are actually taking three day trips with them from Barcelona, and another one from Madrid.

In Logroño there is a winery, Viña Ijalba. One of their main focuses is on saving the local varieties of grape. They explain it this way:

Recovering minority grape varieties.

In the late nineteenth century, the director of the Enology Station of
Haro, D. Manso de Zuniga Victor Cruz pointed out the existence of a
genetic heritage comprised of approximately 100 varieties in Rioja.

In the 1930´s some 44 varieties were listed. Late last century only 7
varieties were authorized by C. R. D. O. (Consejo Regulador) of La
Rioja.

The Rioja was losing biodiversity. Today the situation has improved
partly because The Rioja now knows 12 authorized varieties of which 6
native.

Viña Ijalba has been engaged in a project with the aim to recover
autochtonous minority varieties for more than a decade now together
with the C.I.D.A. Rioja (Centre for Agricultural R&D) and the
University of La Rioja.

Hi CheriLou

Some bits and pieces, since you're flying to Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia:

>>> WINE
(in Catalan, the local language, "ví", pronounced "bee")

Since you seem to know your wines, I'll spare all the bragging about Catalonia being one of the best wine regions... surely you know that, right? LOL!

There are 12 wine and cava denomination zones (D.O.) in Catalonia -there's an errata in the post and they missed Catalonia D.O. and the Cava D.O., no less! still a good excerpt for each one of the other zones is presented. And obviously you need the map of their location too. Note that zones 2 and 3 are not shown in this map because they partially overlap other zones but googling you'll easily find specific maps for these two.

Official sites:

The Catalan Institute of Vines and Wines (INCAVI): http://www.ceics.eu/en/incavi -and the site in itself. This is the"bible" on everything wine in Catalonia, not only regarding D.Os., producers, etc. but also around the culture of wine here in Catalonia (celebrations, festivities, festivals, etc.) Each D.O. has also its own website (most of them anyway), but I gotta say some are mediocre at best, especially the smaller ones -very good at making wines, not so much at communication :)

Wine tourism, including tours -not "touristy", as in tacky touristy, if you catch my drift!

The HQs of these three wineries -which in fact are the biggest producers of them all, with affiliates and delegations in South American and the US- are easy to reach on a half a day visit from Barcelona. Nevertheless, their onsite tours are rather aimed at the general population rather than for connoisseurs.

• CODORNIÚ
• FREIXENET
• TORRES

>>> CASTLES
(in Catalan, the local language, "castells", pronounced "kas-teh-eels")

For several centuries, Catalonia had been the "buffer zone" between Christianity and the Muslim world which conquered and stayed in much of the Iberian Peninsula from the 8th to the 15th centuries. This fact partially explains the major differences between the Catalan and the Spanish cultures. For this reason, Catalonia had literally hundreds of castles and other defensive buildings across the territory -which is roughly the size of Maryland.

Unfortunately though, the constant scuffles and wars since the 13th to the 18th centuries between the Crown of Aragon (a sort of federation between the Principality of Catalonia, the Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of Valencia) and the Crown of Castille, resulted in a major confrontation at the beginning of the 18th century, the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1715) which involved all the major powers in Europe siding with one or the other side. Unfortunately, the war was won by the later which promptly disbanded the political and cultural institutions, privileges, laws and armies of the losing side and imposed theirs. In order to ensure the Crown of Aragon (hence also Catalonia) wouldn't be able to fight for their liberties again, many castles and other defensive buildings were demolished and these days there are relatively few castles left, many of which are merely bits and pieces. Yet, these are some of the most impressive still standing here in Catalonia.

Here a wider list of castles in Catalonia. Note that a number of them are private residences. A sample of them in a video. Readers should realise that medieval castles are normally much less spectacular than those in more "modern" times -don't believe everything you see in Errol Flynn movies, hahaha!

There's a webpage created and maintained by an elderly couple here in Barcelona which contains a wealth of information on medieval Catalonia, including the location, description and documentation of almost all the remaining ruins related to this exciting time including not only castles but also monasteries, palaces, towers... down to stone bridges! Yet it's only available in Catalan, the local language, so you'll have to use Google Translator. One of the most interesting features is the mapping of all of these. To use it please visit the main page, choose a county and click on "Veure contingut". A text list will appear with everything in that county. If you click on the globe icon to the right of the main title you'll see them plotted on a map.

I would also suggest visiting walled medieval towns, which are as good if not better than castles themselves. Some worth considering are Besalú or Montblanc for example. Also monasteries, which in fact were a sort of castles, especially noting the number of military-religious orders present in Catalonia, like the Orde del Temple de Jerusalem (the Knight's Templars), Orde de Montesa, Orde de Sant Jordi d'Alfama or Orde de Sant Joan o de l’Hospital among other. One of the most spectacular military monasteries is Sant Pere de Rodes, located in an impressive position on the slope of a mountain.

Enjoy!

PS. Needless to say that, except for a few sites, most medieval defensive buildings are not in the towns/cities but in the mountains and fields, therefore a car is normally a must to reach them.

... this one is a popular DIY route to visit a few of the castles, the route of Castells del Sió, focused in several counties located west of Barcelona. It's not doable on a day! More info.

Enric
Your posts are so very helpful.... Thank you so much. We are really looking forward to the next year of planning and now have extended our trip to three weeks to fit more in!!!!
Thank you for taking the time to be so detailed!!!
Appreciative
Cherilou

My pleasure :))