I spent last night in Haro, the capital of Rioja. The town is full of vinotecas, little wine shops with hundreds of wines to taste. These places were of course full of riojas and even the best ones rarely cost more than 5 or 6 dollars per glass. Since I still had a day of riding left, it would have been a good night to exercise discretion but hey, you only live once.
My last day of riding today ended, appropriately enough, with a steep ascent up the town of Laguardia, still in the heart of wine country.
This part of Spain reminds me of Napa, California. Farms and fancy wineries everywhere, the mild smell of rotting fruit in the air, and lots of tourists crisscrossing the landscape visiting wineries. . . .
. . . including me. The wine theme is pervasive in, for example, my hotel, which offers wine mud baths, wine facials, grape exfoliation and “lymphatic drainage,” whatever that is, which I sure hope is preceded by wine. There’s also wine soap and shampoo in my bathroom – which is quite luxurious so I’m not complaining.
Almost every weekend in Spain is a religious holiday honoring one saint or another and this weekend is no exception, so the town I’m staying in is packed with people here for the holiday. After 5 days of being more or less alone, it’s now hard to walk around without literally bumping into someone.
In addition to wine and people, Laguardia also has this. Despite the fact that this clock is one of the town’s main attractions, everyone knows that it is about 5 minutes fast. So if you want to see the show, you have to get to the square early.
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