Spain: La Rioja, Basque, Andalusia and Madrid

We visited Spain in fall 2012, here are some notes from that trip. I had previously visited Barcelona so we skipped that. A friend of ours who I did some training with lived in Madrid and she was able to show us around.

Flew into Madrid where we spent 4 days, saw the main sights, went to el Prado which was a real highlight. Did some shopping. Was disappointing to see most of the small local boutiques/designers seemed to have closed down due to the recession. I picked up a bottle of Vega Sicilia for a fraction of what it would cost back home (still have this cellared). We took a day trip to Toledo, had a great lunch there overlooking the whole town with an old friend. In Madrid we ate at dantxeri, arce, quintanna 30, had one night of tapas on cava Baja and had a really nice meal at el club allard.

We then rented a car and drove up to la rioja, stayed at a small winery in abalos (bodega Puelles-highly recommend), ate at hector oribe. We drove around, saw a few more wineries, the region was much prettier than I imagined, really glad we stopped in. On to San Sebastian for 2 nights, we stayed right near the old town on the beach (hotel londres, which was under construction). The setting was spectacular with all the lush green mountains and beautiful beaches, reminded me of a smaller version of Rio. We did one night of pintxo hopping, really fun, clearly in a class of its own compared to tapas elsewhere. We had reservations in advance for Arzak, and Akellare for lunch before we drove over to Bilbao. They did not disappoint, truly world class meals. In Bilbao we just had time to see the Guggenheim from the outside only (lineups!) before dropping off our car and flying to Sevilla.

We spent 2 days in Sevilla, the first we walked around Santa Cruz, casa de pilatos, saw the cathedral, and dined at az-zait. It seemed like a charming enough restaurant, until the next day when my fiancé got food poisoning. That put a damper on Sevilla, I went alone to visit the real alcazar, while she was resting, it was quite impressive.

We then picked up another rental car and headed for arcos de la frontera. We spent one night there near the old own, explored and drove off the next day. We took a scenic route through the mountains of the park grzalema, stopped for lunch in the epinonymous town, headed up to zaharra across a mountain pass, then drove into Ronda. We stayed at the parador, got upgraded to a room with a View of the gorge. It was a lovely hotel, glad we chose this parador as it seemed the best value for the experience compared to arcos or Grenada. We really enjoyed Ronda, walked all around the old town, went to a Spanish guitar performance and had some great tapas.

We stayed in Granada the following night. Hotel america inside the Alhambra was a big disappointment (clearly should have stayed in the parador here too). The alhambra itself was spectacular, and we lucked out with the weather. That night we went to a hamman, (which was better than the one in Cordoba) explored the old Islamic district and went to a flamenco show.

We took the scenic route to Cordoba, via priegio. We saw the mesquita, walked around the old quarter, saw the alcazar, roman bridge etc. Ate at choco, really nice meal, a change from traditional, also puerta sevilla and el churrasco. Really enjoyed Cordoba, best food we had in the south, not sure why everyone seems to recommended it as a day trip only.

Finally took the AVE train back to Madrid, stopped in to see guernica and dalis at renia sofia, went out for dinner at DiverXO, dark basement room, really interesting taste profiles, very modern but with Spanish profile, Asian influences and pork faired quite well. Impressive that such as adventurous menu concept tastes this well. Flew home the next morning.

We really enjoyed this trip (with the exception of the food poisoning). Spain really has a lot to offer for travellers. The landscapes in the north are so dramatically different then what I had imagined as Spanish. Particularly juxtaposed with those of Andalusia which are so classic you feel like you are in a Hemingway novel. The Moorish structures remains one of the most striking architectural achievements I have visited anywhere. Food was excellent, Arzak and Bilbao lived up to expectations, but the cooking at DiverXO perhaps being the most impressive with the boldness and daring of the kitchen on full display.