Having learned our lesson yesterday, we started a bit earlier today. The plan was to visit a few wineries and then have lunch. We had to be back at our hotel by 4:00 PM for a scheduled tour of the Marques de Riscal winery on the grounds.

We drove out to Haro, where there are several wineries on one street. It was sort of like Champagne Avenue in Epernay. The most well know winery was Muga, so we started there.

The staff wasn’t exceptionally friendly. She briefly explained our choices, gave us a menu, and told us to let her know what we wanted. We opted for the traditional testing after I started with a glass of Conde de Haro. The test included five wines beginning with a white. None of the wines stood out to me. But in all fairness, I wasn’t a fan of Muga wines before our visit.

We walked further down the street to a small winery, Gomez Cruzado. We were greeted as we walked into the tasting room and invited to sit at a little table for a tasting. Our host not only explained the specifics of each of the wines we tasted, but he also explained how wines are classified in the Rioja region. He explained that only wines that have a Rioja sticker are true Riojas and that the labels indicate the amount of time the wine has spent in the barrel.

The last wine we tasted was a bold white that was different than any other white I’ve ever tasted. Our host claimed that in a blind taste test, it was difficult to tell if it was white or red. I’m not sure that’s entirely true. It very much tasted like a white to me. Nonetheless, we enjoyed it enough to have some shipped home.

When we left, we thought we’d hit another winery, but didn’t want to miss lunch before our 4:00 appointment.

The hotel concierge recommended a restaurant not far from the wineries. We figured it would be another chance to sample some of the best food in the region. When we got to the restaurant, the parking lot was empty. We didn’t let that deter us. But as we walked up to the door, it was clear they weren’t open. It turns out, they were closed until the 12th for vacation. Imagine that — the whole restaurant on vacation.

We decided that we would be adventurous. We drove into the next town, parked, and walked to what “the google” said was a four-star tapas bar. The looks from outside of the restaurant weren’t very promising, but we went in anyway. All the food they had was displayed on the counter. It looked as if it had been sitting there for many hours, if not days. We decided it would be better to grab lunch at the hotel before or appointment.

Here’s the view of Elciego from lunch at the hotel restaurant.

The winery tour of Marques de Rsical wasn’t much different than other mass-market wineries. The major difference was the inclusion of the Frank Gehry hotel we were staying in. We walked to the top of the hill to get a better look at the hotel.

The one thing that blew my mind was the sheer volume of wine they had in the room where they age the bottles before labeling. There were three and a half million bottles of wine in that one space, floor to ceiling. That didn’t include another four million housed at another site.

After our tour, we drove into Logrono to visit La Laurel street that has a bunch of tapas bars. We didn’t get there until almost 9:00 PM. But most of the restaurants don’t open until then. Walking down La Laurel reminded me of my first experience with tapas bars forty years ago in Madrid. Back then, I didn’t feel any nervousness about the food or the language.

We settled on Letras de Laurel, the restaurant suggested by the hotel. It was a bit touch and go as they didn’t have an English menu. However, our waiter did a wonderful job translating what he could. I feel in love with the Pisto, which is a Spanish vegetable dish. But the most amazing thing about dinner was that it cost less than 70 euros, including a bottle of wine and dessert.

The ride back to the hotel was a bit scary. Google took us a different way than the way we came, and there were no street lights. Though we didn’t say anything to each other during the drive, we were both relieved when we pulled on the grounds of the hotel.

At breakfast, I told our server we were planning to visit the town of Elciego. She informed me that we would be able to circle the entire town twice in twenty minutes. So, we stopped at the front desk to ask the concierge for advice on how to spend the day.

She recommended we visit the walled town of Laguardia about a 15-minute drive from the hotel.

We got a late start to the day and didn’t consider the Spanish tradition of siesta in the afternoon. Consequently, the shops in town were closed when we got there. We walked around the outside of the walled city so I could take some pictures. Michael found an ATM, and then we went to Los Parajes, the restaurant the concierge recommended.

The restaurant hostess suggested we take a look at their sixteen-century wine cellar while they prepared our table.

The cellar had a wine bar of sorts set up. You could grab a glass and walk through the caves. We passed on the wine. To be honest, cellars freak me out. I always have these worst-case scenario thoughts.

The cellar had three smallish rooms, so we saw the entire space in a few minutes. Once we come back up to the restaurant, our table was ready.

We decided to share several starters rather than ordering any entrees. We ordered croquettes, Iberian ham and toasted bread with tomato and grilled octopus. We also had a bottle of Remirez de Ganuza Rioja Reserva. I was too busy enjoying the food and our conversation to take any pictures.

We hoped that once we were done with lunch, the shops would reopen. But no luck. It was also Monday, and most things had limited hours.

So we just walked around looking at the views and architecture. There was a really cool sculpture that consisted of one table with a variety of shoes and another with bags called Escultura Viajeros(Sculptor of Travelers). The description of the meaning was in Spanish. I looked it up later but couldn’t find anything about it. Nonetheless, I took several photos.

Our next stop was the even smaller town of Elciego. We popped into the pharmacy to pick up a few things. The pharmacist didn’t speak English, but we were able to put together enough Spanish to make it work.

We both needed to use the restroom, so we went into this bar called Restuarante La Florida. We thought that was pretty funny since we live in Florida. Michael bought two glasses of wine as a “restroom tax.” The wine wasn’t very good. No great loss. Both glasses only cost 3 euros. While we sat and drank our wine, I noticed a Spanish version of Sweet Home Alabama playing on the radio. We got a good laugh because we didn’t see how the translation made any sense.

Before leaving the town, we walked over to the cathedral that’s visible from our hotel. It wasn’t open. I tried to take a good picture, but it’s difficult to capture such massive buildings up close.

While we were standing in the courtyard, a little boy about seven or eight approached us and asked our names. When Michael responded in Spanish, the little boy began to talk to us. Michael told him we only spoke a little Spanish. The boy nodded and started speaking to us in English. We told him his English was very good.

“I know,” he said as he road off on his scooter.

It made us both laugh. It also made us realize we needed to up our Spanish speaking game.