We are planning a trip to Porto and Northern Spain in October. It will be a three-week journey that we have wanted to do for a long time. Our planning is almost complete with on major hole. Any advice or recommendations would be welcomed.
We start in Porto for 3 days, then to Vigo, Spain for 4 days, Ribeira Sacra & Monforte de Lemos for 2 days, Leon for 4 days, and then we have a gap of 3 days.
We will be doing day trips from each of our stops. Spanish wine is my passion and Green Spain is one of my favorite regions.
Not sure if we should head east to Rioja or head north to Gijon before closing out the last 4 days of our journey in Bilbao.
Any suggestions on going east on the purple line or north on the red line?
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We loved Rioja and were there in 2019. Here are some notes from my diary. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Hotel Collaldo. The hotel is on several levels, built into the hill, and one does walk stairs. Our room is downstairs. Room #4 (Ciggarelo) is large room with antique furnishings, elegant bathroom with tub and shower, sitting room, etc. ( Room #2 (Navigator) is a regular room with a sauna in the middle of the bedroom!) We had to walk the bags up a walkway from the parking lot across the street to get to the hotel, then a few stairs to get to the door that let us right to our rooms. We went to the “Lunch Restaurant” on the lower hotel terrace and had pintxos. Then we walked through the lovely old town. I can see why Maribel
https://maribelsguides.com
says this is her favorite town in Rioja Alavesa – it is gorgeous with spectacular views. We are in wine country with vineyards everywhere you look– not txokoli here!.
Dinner here is later than it was in San Sebastian; no dinner openings until 8 or 9 pm. We went to
Gastropub Dona Blanca at 7:30 and were told that the kitchen didn’t open until 8. So we went for a walk, enjoying a beautiful sunset, and went back at 8:15 at the same time a large wine tasting tour arrived. They took over the front room and we were seated in a very nice back room The food was not heavy and was delicious. Rioja style is “down home cooking.” We got a bottle of Marquis de Riscal dry white suggested by Diko (E16.50) and took the remaining ½ bottle home.
La Fabulista bodega tour at 1:00. It is clear that you must have a reservation to tour a winery, so we were lucky. The tour was great. Fabulista is one of only two underground wineries in the city walls. Monte was the darling and lively tour guide. Her English was great, and when it wasn’t she was good humored and we all helped. She began outside of the building explaining who Fabulist was (the Spanish Aesop) and how his family was the richest in Laguardia and started the winery. The tour took 1 ½ hours, was delightful, and E8 pp well worth it. We then had lunch on the terrace of
Biazteri. The menu del dia at E14.95 was a good value.
AT 5:00 we went to tour the
church of Maria (Mary). A huge tour group arrived behind us, but we all got in. Unfortunately it was all in Spanish. A printed English explanation was made available to us but was difficult to understand. The church is famous for the many carved and painted statues around and over the main alter which tell the story of Jesus’ birth. Mary is the center and her large wooden painted statue is the centerpiece.
Late afternoon we took the
2k walk to see Bodega Ysios, the Calatrava building. We could see it across the vineyards as a view from the hotel. It was a great walk at that time of day and the views of Ysios as we grew nearer were spectacular. It is simply a breathtaking building in the shadow of a limestone mountain.
2:00 lunch at 1860 Tradicion inside the Gehry hotel, dress smart casual. This is a very tightly secured area. After parking in the outlaying lot, we had to stop at the guard office to tell them that we indeed did have a reservation for the 1860 Tradicion restaurant, and then they showed us where to walk to get to the hotel. The Gehry building is spectacular with is undulating pink and gold titanium ribbons. We walked into the very bare lobby, only an information desk there, and were directed to the elevator that would take us directly to the restaurant. It is beautiful on the terrace which is where our table was, from the luscious marbled green dishes, green water glasses, heavy modern silver utensils to the views. Lunch was a splurge, and well worth it. As expected, the service is outstanding as is the food. You can’t get into the Gehry hotel without being a room guest (heaven only knows how much a room goes for) or have a restaurant reservation. The hotel is a separate building from the winery where one takes the tour and visits the gift shop.
We did take a lovely walk all the way on the path around the walls. We found, at the south portico, a plaque remembering that this was a Jewish area prior to the Inquisition. It became a Capuchin convent later on..
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