The next few blogs are made possible because of Marcos  from the Vodafone store in Gijon. We knew that we did not have internet in our village , so because of Marcos’ good English we are now on line! Marcos , here is the photo you asked for writing the blog in Haro with a glass or 2 of wine! Thank you! Muchas gracias!

We are now quite happy and settled in our little hamlet of Sajazarra but more about our village later!

We left Gijon and drove through the spectacular Las Ubinas la Mesa.  The mountain ranges made for a great drive and we stopped for lunch at Leon.

The Cathedral was stunning….f.rom the outside. Unfortunately it closes for 3 hours on Saturdays from 11.30 to 2.30 for weddings so tourists are forbidden!!!

It’s construction began in the 13th century and it has 130 windows and 3 rose windows. It was huge!

 

Another lovely building was the Gaudi Museum or Botines House designed by Gaudi himself! Leon surprised us and it was a good lunch stop!

We then continued onto our home for the next 2 weeks ,the small village of Sajazarra in the La rioja region of Spain , renown for it’s wine, and in particular red wine.

It is classed as one of the most beautiful villages of Spain and that is probably due to it’s Castillo! It is privately owned and has been in the same family since 1960. It is quite impressive.

We enjoy a walk each morning that takes us through the vineyards , and there is a spectacular rock formation that we named “Home Rock”.

 

Our little house has a great courtyard that we can relax in , and Greg is certainly enjoying his afternoon siestas! He has slotted into the Spanish lifestyle extremely well.

 

The first night we had dinner at the only restaurant / bar in town . It was delicious. The Iberian ham was great and the lamb cooked in the wood oven was fantastic and the wine was pretty good too!

 

The next day we decided to check out some other smaller villages near to us. One of the loveliest was Briones which not only had great coffee but also a beautiful Cathedral and it’s golden interior was quite stunning.

 

The views from the Mirador were quite nice with loads of vineyards.

Another good stop was San Vincente de la Sonsierra with its “monumental compound” consisting of a fortress , castle and gothic parish church from the 16th century.

 

It was quite a climb to the top but we put some kms in our legs and made it! The views were good from the top!

 

The town also has a very pretty medieval bridge.

We spent another day to “do lunch” in Haro , about 10 kms from Sajazarra . The area has been making wine for over 100 years , so hence there are heaps of wineries in the area.

 

Haro is also known as the “City of Palaces” and there are many beautiful buildings in the town.

La Paz is the main square in the town and every winery in the vicinity of Haro has a barrel in front of the 18th century Town Hall. Sadly we missed the main event of Haro, The Battle of the Wine. You must wear white clothes and you throw thousands of litres of red wine over everybody else! Sounds like fun!

 

We ended up (unbeknown to us) at one of the oldest restaurants in Haro for lunch and it is famous for it’s wood fired roast lamb. Guess what we had???? After lunch we partook of a wine or 2 al fresco!

 

We had a rather dreary wet day……oh no….. so we thought we might as well do something to keep us out of the rain, so we did a winery tour and tasting. We chose Gomez Cruzadoa , a smaller winery. They have been making wine since 1886. We had a very interesting wine tour, we learnt lots and the wines were excellent. Highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the area!

 

 

We drove to LaGuardia , a medieval town still with it’s 13th century walls. It was lovely wandering the narrow streets with lots of 15th and 16th century palaces.

 

The old Town Hall , 16th century (above) was just as impressive as the new one and the gate below the Bell tower at the Church of San Juan is known as the “Grandparents Portal” so of course we had to walk through it!

The panoramic view from the mirador, of the vineyards below the Cantabrian Mountains was stunning. (above)

We then continued onto the small village of Najera. This village is an imporatant stop for the people walking The St James Way or the Camino de Compostello. When we saw the magnificent Church we could understand why! Sadly it was not open.

 

It was a great lunch stop though. The sea bass was great!

We ventured a bit further than normal and drove one and a half hours to the town of Olite, not only to do lunch but to visit the stunning Royal Palace.

It has a checkered history. Originally constructed between `1402 and 1424 by Charles 111 , the noble King of Naverre (impressive title) . He was better known for his luxurious palatial lifestyle rather than his military campaigns! The family enjoyed a relaxed lifestyle at the palace until 1512 when a coup occurred.

 

It then sadly started to deteriorate and in 1813 , during the war of Independence the Spanish set fire to it to stop the French from taking control of it. It was left derelict until 1937 when the council decided to restore it and the restoration took 30 years to complete! In our opinion it was well worth it!

We still have other places to visit while we are here in Sajazarra for the next week.

Hopefully our internet will last!

So it’s that time again!

Adios amigos!

Greg and Rhonda

xxxx