January 21st-23rd, 2011
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| Pinchos-Sauteed mushrooms in garlic and dried ham. |
All of us American's were eager to start our immense amount of traveling upon our return to the Spanish land. Many of us haven't decided if we're going to extend our year or not, so it could be now or never to travel to all the places we desire before our departure. All of us have been to many different places in Spain, so we had a hard time deciding which city to visit that none of us had previously seen. We looked on a map and decided on a town called Logroño, which is northeast of Madrid and the capital of the wine country, La Rioja. Many Spaniards told us there was nothing to do there--and they turned out to be right....LOL! I must say, though, that it's really hard to compare cities after living in such a lively and historical city like Madrid. The seven of us went for a little weekend away, and despite not offering a lot, we had a pretty great time enjoying each others company and making the most of what the town had to offer us. We took a bus from Madrid, through Soria, to Logroño. I have always enjoyed bus rides through the country--sometimes you have mountains, greenery, dry land, and even a castle! And it's so weird for us city folk driving in small cities. You're used to only seeing huge apartment buildings in the city, and end up seeing tons of houses in the country. I really enjoy living in a big city like Madrid, because there are SO many opportunities of various sorts. For instance, you can take a bus, train, or plane basically ANYWHERE you want. If I lived in a small town like Logroño, or even Soria for that matter, I would have to take a long bus ride to an airport, and would only be allowed to go to the limited destinations that buses offer. Noooo thank you! We arrived in Logroño on Friday night, and stayed in a decent little pension [which is like a hostel, but was basically just a larger apartment]. Elise, Lolly and I arrived first, and went out for a nice Spanish meal. I decided to try something I had never eaten before that apparently is a delicacy here: Ox tail. It was smothered in a gravy-like wine sauce, and just tasted like stew meat. It wasn't too bad, but I did have a hard time eating it after seeing the bone, which made me think of my own tail bone! Haha. It's funny how open I am to trying new things as an adult, because as a child, I was extremely picky. I'm sure my parents would have never expected that I'd eat things like ox tail or blood pudding...Haha. Our first full day in Logroño, we decided test out what the town was known for: red wine. We made up a walking pincho/wine tour, and tried wine at different places. Logroño eats a lot of mushrooms, as well as garlic, and the two mixed together are just delicious! The best part about the day was that on average, the house wine was about 70 cents. For a pincho and wine, it basically wasn't anymore than 3 euros. Talk about ridiculously cheap! We went out later on, but it ended up being another chill type-of-night. We decided to walk around the town on our last day, and at least enjoy the views. We came across the Puente de Piedra [rock bridge] over a small river, a cathedral, as well as a bike trail. We were basically killing time on Sunday, and although the weather was extremely cold [from my Southern Californian perspective] we appreciated the relaxation of walking around and talking after a tiring work week.
Lolly and I in front of the Puente de Piedra.
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