Haro - Rioja - Navarrete

Renata was feeling much better after breakfast. We had a fantastic day today!

The goal for today was to experience the Rioja wine country. We didn’t plan to follow a specific route. The only thing we kept in mind was moving toward Navarrete, where we are staying tonight.

It was very relaxing to drive a little slower and focus our attention on the incredible views and the beauty of the landscape. Kurt veered off the main road and used narrow gravel roads that led through the vineyards. The vines have many young shoots (light green color), and the grapes are in a tiny developing stage. The grape vines look very healthy, as does all the vegetation that we see here in northern Spain. We see tractors with blowing devices busy spraying the vines with insecticides. We notice that farmers occasionally plant barley between the grape fields.

The winery of Eugene Ugarte on route N-232a was an exciting place where we spent about 1 hour exploring and walking the entire property, which included grapes processing, fermentation storage, restaurant, gift shop, and hotel. The grounds were kept immaculately - everything was spotless - very impressive. Ursula purchased a bottle of Grappa and Kurt a bottle of wine as souvenirs.

The drive to the wine capital La Guardia was only 20 minutes. Kurt found a great parking space behind the church. Restaurante Biazeri had outdoor tables shaded under chestnut trees where we stopped for lunch for wine, beer, pintxos, and coffee. The wine region attracts more tourism than the coastal towns we visited earlier. Restaurant and hotel prices are almost double.

Hotel San Camilo, 1-mile outside of Navarrete, was easy to find, and our dinner at the Restaurant Sala in town was unforgettable. The owner, Tatjana, immigrated 20 years ago from Romania and treated us like family. What a nice dinner and evening to end our vacation in Spain.

Tomorrow will be our last day. We plan to visit two close-by wineries. One was designed by Santiago Calatrava, and the other by Frank Gehry.Read more