Last year we went to the Dordogne with Breezy’s Father. At the end of that trip he stated that his traveling days were over. We said that if he wanted to we would love to go away with him again the following year, but he had to decide where.

It didn’t take him long to decide on Rioja in Spain. Partly down to the wine and partly down to the food. Now, the Rioja area, or region, is different from the Rioja wine area. This may sound obvious but the Rioja wine area crosses into the Basque are to the north. This is the area famous for Pinxos, Small bites of food rather than tapas, often displayed on the bar. Racionnes are also available which are more the tapas style sharing platters. Each bar specialises, or is known for, a specific Pinxos. Also Pinxos are usually eaten with a glass of wine. You may be able to see where this is going. Each bar you go into means eating something that is two mouthfulls and incredibly yummy, and consuming a glass of wine. There are a lot more bars than my capacity to drink wine.

We based ourselves in an appatment in Fuenmayor near Logrono (the capital of the Rioja wine area). The town we stayed in has some great restaurants and bars but is small enough that you can walk around easily. Logrono is much bigger with a lot more bars and is thus much more dangerous. We did venture into Logrono for a lunchtime which has to be done. Some planning went into which bars we wanted to visit and Google maps is great as it can tell you if a particular bar is busier or quieter than usual.

We had a wine tour at Altes R Pigeage, organised by Iain, which was great. Really informative and we got to taste some lovely wines. Iain knew the wines through his dealings with Laithwaites.

Carline thistles seem prevalent both indoors and above doors outside to ward off witches.

We also got to visit a few small hill top towns and visited the Rioja Botanical Gardens.

Who knows where we will end up next year?