Rest day in Logroño

What a treat to wake up and not have to put on the backpack and head out. I couldn't rally last night to go to the famous Calle Laurel for a tapas crawl so we're doing it twice today, first at lunch then for late dinner.

Our hotel has a great breakfast spread of ham, chorizo, salchichón, cheeses, breads and eggs however you'd like. We stuffed our faces and then went out to explore. We walked along the Gran Via which reminded me of the downtown San Francisco of my youth; relatively clean, modern and lots of shops. We toured a couple of churches then headed to Calle Laurel to sample some tapas. The area wasn't very crowded at lunchtime which was fine by us. I had to try the mushrooms at Bar Soriano I had heard so much about...yum. Other standouts were the torreznos (fried pork belly), patatas bravas, and the creamy tarta de queso (slightly underbaked, crustless cheesecake). Most of these places specialize in one dish so you eat that and move on to the next place. Shops started closing at 1:30 and reopen about 5pm. The restaurants close about 3pm and reopen about 7:30. So we went back to our room for siesta time.

The tapas bars slowly started opening at 7:30pm and were in full swing at 8:30pm. Who are we having dinner this late?! It was a little more crowded but we always had plenty of space.

Now were getting ready to hit the trail tomorrow.Read more