Going Home to North Carolina

Going Home to North Carolina

Tuesday March 31, 2015

Keeping time...

Careful with the wine!

We woke up in the Hilton Hotel this morning, wide awake and ready to go back home.  We cleaned up and were out the door quickly, deciding to grab a coffee at the airport instead of the hotel.  The hotel bus brought us quickly to the airport.  We had returned the car the day before and were able to go right to where the flight would be checked in.  We checked our two luggage pieces, a case and a half of wine, and then headed toward the gate.  From start to finish, it was about 45 minutes to get through all the security.  We did our last Spanish breakfast of coffee, croissant, and zumo (fresh squeezed orange juice).  Also, we did our last charging of our phones before boarding the plane.  We wanted to have a full charge for our own music and pictures.

Not as good as Spain,
but we're not giving it up!

The flight back was great.  We went from Madrid to Philadelphia and then to Greensboro.  The food was actually pretty good, and the service was really friendly.  We commented to our flight attendant how much we appreciated his good pours for wine.  The boxed wine was far from some that we had on our trip, but it wasn't as bad as some that we've had before.  Once you land in Philadelphia, you have to go through customs and then recheck your luggage.  A big tip here is that if you have bought any alcohol at duty free in Europe, you have to check it here.  That's why we didn't get any more.  There wasn't room for us to carry it, and we already had our wine bottles all taped up.

The flight to Greensboro was delayed about an hour, but we had a taxi waiting for us there who took us home.  It was the same service we used when we were leaving and worried about snow.  We had offers to pick us up, but just like we had the delay - we didn't want to put out people in the middle of the week at night.  

Here's one thing that struck us both as weirdly funny on the flight.  The GPS option on the personal monitors shows the routing that you're flying with the airline.  However, they like to point out different transportation tragedies as you're going along.  While I'm flying over the ocean, I really don't want to be reminded of disasters.  I think I'm going to write a letter to the airline - love the maps, hate the crash markers!

Flight Plan from Madrid

Bismark 1941

Thresher & Titanic

Empress of Ireland 1914

Heading to Madrid

Heading to Madrid

Monday March 30, 2015

Today would be our last full day in Spain on this trip.  We've been here for over a month and have only a few items to bring back from our trip besides bottles of wine.  We do have a lot of memories that we were lucky enough to bring back. We were here to learn some more Spanish, visit friends and places, and to experience a section of the world where wine is considered more than just a product, it is an art.  We went out for our final morning walk in the Rioja Alavesa among the vines that had been around for almost a hundred years and would soon be springing to life with buds.  If all went well, in a year's time they would be harvested and their fruit in barrels preparing to be opened sometime in the future to celebrate a wedding, a birth, a death, or just good friendships.  For now, we just made sure to get back to the village to get our last bread from the visiting bakery in his pickup truck.

We went to Haro to find some packing tape.  We had used up a partial roll that was gifted to us by a woman in a small vegetable store on Palm Sunday.  We now were in a larger department store, and I went to information to ask where packing tape was located.  An employee walked to the area where it was sold, but couldn't find any other than duct tape.  So she went to the front desk and asked for some packing tape and then handed it to me and said thanks for coming in and take this free tape for your journey back.  Twice gifted tape in two days, isn't that weirdly nice?  She wouldn't let me buy the silver duct tape because that kind can stop some packages from being allowed on flights.  So I thanked them and we left.

We took the highway back to Madrid in the afternoon.  On the way, we passed another one of the vineyards that we had purchased a bottle of wine in Lerma.  The weather was warm and the sun was shining.  We rode almost alone the highway and in just a few hours we were at the airport to return the car.  All went smoothly and we then returned to our Hilton Hotel at the airport by their courtesy bus.  Our room was huge and they had known that we were there once before.  The staff there were very helpful and had brought our packages to the room.  A front desk person brought us to our room when the bellman was busy with someone else. 

We packed our luggage and left out only our next day's clothes and toiletries.  We finished the last of our food/snacks and a final bottle of wine that wouldn't make the Transatlantic Flight.  We had tried  to visit the winery of Guimaro, but the owner, Pedro Rodriguez, was in the States for a business trip.   So we decided to drink the bottle of Guimaro's Finca Meixeman that was recommended to us by Vide Vide in Santiago de  Compostela.  It was fitting to finish off with a wine from the region where all the pilgrims that comes from the Heroic Vintners of the Ribera Sacra. Their wines are produced on the insanely steep hillsides in the Galician Provence of Spain, and they call their grape pickers heroes for working on these steep hills.  The slopes allow for sun, good drainage, while the river below ferries boats and passengers to watch them grow.  Pilgrims of a different sort, we were able to travel Spain's Eastern and Northern Provences through Valencia, Barcelona, Rioja, Basque, Galicia, Portugal, and then back to Madrid.  Each area has it's own unique food, flavors, language, and wines.  All of them with such a rich history that last thousands of years and growing every year a new story told through vines and wines.

Palm Sunday in Spain

Palm Sunday in Spain
Sunday March 29, 2015

We awoke early this morning to see if we could get a glimpse of the Spanish getting together for Palm Sunday in Spain.  This town of only a couple hundred residents, had already swollen just for the Palm Sunday.  Our hosts Nadine and Oscar said that most people have the entire week off from work between Palm Sunday and Easter, so they come to the village to relax.  There were certainly more cars in the area, but even on an early Sunday morning, it appeared like it was almost deserted.  As the day warmed up and the sun took hold, the streets started to become more alive.

View from Haro lookout

Cathy and I went for a short drive into Haro to see what was going on there.  It too appeared more deserted at 8:00 AM than we could have imagined.  We went up to the Church area, and saw a few people strolling to mass dressed in their Sunday best, but it was just a handful.  We circled the city looking for a place to park and walk, but nothing was really speaking to us as a place to walk.  The sun and clouds were in a struggle for dominance, with the clouds winning out so far.

We remembered a small town on the way into Haro where there was a marketplace setting up off to the side.  We made our way back there and then struck out on a hike around that town to see if we could find some treasures.

View of Sajazarra from vineyards

Even in this small town you would see references to the influence of the wine industry.  There were a few statues that were around town that were bunches of grapes that were of stone or concrete.  In the children's playground there was a huge wooden wine presses that would mark the Wine Route of the region.  There were also a couple of the men out cleaning their tractors and taking them down the small streets to the village's edge to start tilling the land.  The snow this past week probably put them off working anything in the fields.  In fact, on closer inspection of the fields, there were some people working the vines and pruning them back before the end of the month when it should be completed for the Spring.  It wasn't an official reason, but we were told it was kind of an unwritten rule.  Think of wearing white after Labor Day.

We stumbled on the Sunday fair that was still being pieced together.  There were whole families of what appeared to be travelling market people, or Rona families.  We really didn't see anything that interested us as the market was geared to clothes and children's articles.  We did see a small store open that we inspected to see if they had tape for our 18 bottles of wine we were going to pack for our return.  The woman didn't have any in her store, but she did run out after us as and gave us a roll of tape that she found in one of their drawers.  She wouldn't accept any money for it because it was already partially used.  These acts of random kindness were just really impressive.

View of Cellorigo from Hermitage of Santa Maria

We made our way back out to Sajazarra to enjoy the day - we would pack at our leisure and use up the rest of the food that we had purchased and leave a few non-perishables behind for the next guests and a bottle of wine for our hosts.  We saw the church and people going there with their fronds for Palm Sunday, and then they made their way back out of the church and around the corner to the Asador Ochavo for a large family lunch.  We hiked out into the vineyards and up to the lookout spot where the 13th Century Hermitage of Santa Maria de Cillas sits as an outpost for the town between the mountains and the village.

Hotel Villa de Abalos
Tapas on Palm Sunday

Sundays there were Tapas at Hotel Villa de Abalos (www.hotelvilladeabalos.com), so we went back over to enjoy them.  Plam Sunday had them busy with people exiting church and stopping by for Tapas before they headed back to their own family feasts.  Jose Luis and his wife Merche and their daughter were there working the Wine Bar and we enjoyed several of their fresh fish tapas.  While you may think that their tapas would be too fishy, the Spanish fish isn't as bold as what we tend to have here in the States.  Certainly, the sardines are not as salty as what we are used to having and the anchovies are much better in our opinion.  The tortilla was always great and the new favorite that we had was the brie with walnuts and avocados on a toasted baguette.  There was also an aoili sauce that held it all together and in place.  Tapas were less than a couple of bucks each, and they could be shared.  We of course had the Tempora delight, which was the tempora Shirmp on top of a tempora Calamari, on top of a tempora tuna stuffed tempora egg on a toasted baguette with a wooden skewer to hold it together.

We wound up our night with loading directions and preparing for our departure.  We drank our last bottle of wine from Riberio de Sacra and enjoyed a tuna and tomato salad with eggs.

Tomorrow we head to Madrid, and the weather couldn't be better.

Cellorigo Rioja Spain

Cellorigo Spain

Saturday March 28, 2015

Cellorigo from the highway

Cathy coming down the sloped street

Very few times have I ever really chickened out when we were driving around the countryside.  I've driven on dirt roads with cliffs off to the side; Downtown in Rome; and driven the switchbacks in Positano Italy and the Amalfi Coast.  Today I chickened out and stopped as we approached the steepest inclines that we had seen paved.  From far away, they look so beautiful - stone houses up on a hill that must have fantastic views of several small rioja villages and hundreds of hectares of grapes.  However, what you don't notice are some of the roads that are washed out, where the tar is there, but the dirt underneath it has decided to join its ancestors down in the valley.   Parking seemed like a good option.  When hiking up the hillside, and I mean UP, is a good option.  Be ready to take some stops and breaks.

Cellorigo, Spain

We reached the small village and only saw a few people there.  One person stopped and talked to us while he was walking his dog.  He was from the old capital of the region - Victoria.  Others that live there are from Haro and smaller cities.  Only a few older people live there year round.  It must have been aweful there a few days ago when the snow was in town.  They too did have the bread delivery, but it came in the afternoon.  We saw one woman stock up on about a dozen loaves, so we figure the frequency isn't like the other towns.  

The church was locked, but it also dated back to the 11th century.  As we approached, you could see dozens of birds circling above us waiting for a slip and fall.  The bread truck's horn called out to the locals that it was feeding time.  Strangers walking around on the hillside was the horn for the carion eating birds drafting on the thermals from the rock cliffs as the sun was warming up.  At the top of the village and at the base of the rocks was a house for sale - you couldn't beat the views, but you'd have to stay at home if you ever wanted to have a party.  And your guests too.  

We went back down into Sajazarra and did our long walk there to get close to our goal for the day.  We had booked lunch at Asador Ochova and today was the day they had lamb.  We got there and they did have the Reserva Tempranillo from Bodega Castillo de Sajazarra.  The last time it was out and we ended up with a fine wine from Ponte de Eu made in town too.  The meal was all we anticipated.  Knowing the full course meal was 18 euros with an upcharge of 4 euros for the lamb, we asked to substitute the blood and rice sausage with some ham croquettas.  We really should have just skipped that course - there was so much lamb we couldn't finish it as hard as we tried.   The wine was perfectly paired and the smell of the smoke from the fire made for a cookout style family affair.

Asador Ochova Lamb Specialty

Indeed, in the short trip that we had made to the mountains, there were a bunch of families that had come from the cities around here to celebrate Easter Week.  Funny how the US is supposed to be such a religious country, yet when it comes to holidays they don't have anything like this.  People were out with their kids in the bar and around the town walking and playing.  A perfect small town for kids to run and bike, but not too big for parents to be worried.  

Walk just outside the castle wall to the vineyards.

We got back and spoke with some of the kids who were in our square.  The young girls were mad because a couple of boys were knocking on doors and then running away.  They were excited to know that we were from the States and immediately said "Hello" in English and practiced their lessons with us. 

We closed down the night by finishing off a half a bottle of our wine from Lerma that we bought in the pizza restaurant.  It was  a young fresh Riberio wine, that was like a Pinot Noir.  We went to bed waiting to see how Palm Sunday would be in the area.  

Castillo de Sajazarra

Castillo de Sajazarra
Friday March 27, 2015

Great to wake up in another small town.  We made our own breakfast for the first time in several weeks.  Oh - the agony!  Actually, it was kind of fun.  The kitchen here has all the things you would need, and the Air BnB is really working out for us.  As 9:30 approached, we awaited the long beep of the bread vendor who would come to the village with his freshly baked rolls and croissants.  As we walked down to the center square, we heard him round the corner, his horn announcing his arrival.  There were about 4 others there, who were obviously eying us an non-locals as we approached.  We introduced ourselves as staying with Nadine and Oscar and they were instant friends.  I told them I wasn't good in Basque at all, but they immediately went over to Castillian Spanish.  They told us we needed to go to the mountains to get a great view of the landscape, but also to be aware of landslides and soft roads.  Maybe, just maybe, they really didn't take to us kindly.

Castle from the ouside walls

Still occupied by owner

Nadine had arranged a visit to the Bodega Castillo de Sajazarra which is one of two bodegas in town.  Jabier Marquinez Villarreal is the winemaker there and he was going to show us around at 1:00.  Nadine, who gave tours previously at Tondonoria in Haro, decided she would stay and go with us too.  She invited her friend Lena, who was pregnant, but was going to keep up with us smelling the wine.  Jabier took us first to the Castille and told us that it has been in the existing in some form or another since the 1300s.  The building was completely restored by its current owner who lives there with his wife and he is in his 80s.  He is also the owner of the vineyards and winery.  Jabier told us the story of the castle and you could sense that it was like a famous sibling that could overshadow his wine.  Jabier is really concerned about the land, the working relationships of a real chateau, the fortress, rivers, gardens and courtyards.  But you notice the jealousy of the fame the castle gets/gives to his wine.

Approaching Winery from Castle
Gardens

Bodega Castillo de Sajazarra's vines 

We toured the outer vineyards to see where some of the Graciano vines were over 80 years old and there are multiple hectars of Riojan grapes here.  The Bodega Castillo de Sajazarra produces about 200,000 bottles a year of very high quality Riojan wines.  In fact, this was the first winery that we saw on our trip in the Rioja region where there is Kosher wine!  So all our Jewish friends, this is the one for you.  The tanks, and all the areas where human intervention occurs were all taped off and ready for a Rabbi's inspection.  Jabier was proud that his wines were popular in the New York City and New Jersey area and that they were serving a community who appreciates good wine too.  Jabier couldn't have been nicer to us and we tasted several types of wine in their beautiful tasting room that is floored with river rocks in castle designs.  Beautiful all the way around.

Where the good stuff is kept

Dan an Jabier

After our wine tour, we came back to the house.  The tour had been about 3 hours and we did our extensive walking.  We had upped our daily miles because of the amount of wine and food that we've been drinking.  Our fit bit is now set for 15,000 steps a day or around 7 miles.  It does get a little harder to reach, but we enjoyed going out with the camera and getting the vineyard shots and the old town shots.  We ate at home tonight too.  We had been carrying around pasta and artichoke hearts for a while, so it was best to mix them up and use them in a pasta dish.  We had contemplated going into town to Haro for some tapas, but since we had all the extra food it seemed a waste of time and money.

Tomorrow we would get up and go to the town that appears to be hanging on rock cliffs about 10 kilometers away.  The locals were telling us to go, but it looks extremely hazardous to us.  But like a moth to flame, we were still prepping to go.  Get out the sneakers and charge up the cameras!

Sajazarra - Rioja

Sajazarra - Rioja
Thursday March 26, 2015

All good things must come to an end, and today was our last breakfast at a hotel Abalos Spain before our exit.  Cathy found a Air BnB spot that is about 30 minutes from where we are staying that is less than $100 / day and it has Internet access and it is big enough for us to spread out and finish our work on the blog and get our thoughts together.  Even though we drove by to just check out the area, we couldn't see inside.  So far Air BnB has been really good, and there wasn't any reason to think that this wouldn't be just as nice.  We arrived early as we could to meet with Nadine and Oscar, our hosts who have been restoring the 18th Century house that is in the first main square upon entering the small town of Sajazarra.  The name to me sounds like a old Muslum city in the middle of the desert.  It isn't, although it does have the history that speaks to you around  all the corners in this quaint village of just a couple hundred full time residents.

We left Abalos and went to visit Miguel Merino - an owner of his own Bodega and man who has ties to North Carolina.  We had visited him earlier in our trip, and went back to get some pictures and finish our questions on what he wants to have to people think when they drink his wine.  He is so animated and gracious - it imparts into the wine he produces.  His main purpose for wine is that it is enjoyed.  Wine is at all great events, and he wants his wine to contribute to the best of times that we all have around a table with food and wine and happy memories.  That would be the one thing he would like to have remembered about the wines he produces.

We got to Sajazarra right around lunch time and we stopped at Asador Ochavo.  The pictures say how good lunch was for us.

Fresh from the farm

Chorizo on the grill 

Blood Sausage - not our favorite

Awesome main course of Cod and Pork!

Screaming for Ice Cream!

12 euros and well worth it.  

We've been around the block here in Rioja for a while.  We love Abalos because of its location in the Rioja, and Sajazarra is one of those small areas where you could base yourself to visit lots of wonderful town.  The larger towns like Haro and Vitoria are less than a hour away and there is always Briones and San Vicente de la Sonsierra that are less than 30 minutes away.  The town doesn't have a main store, so it is serviced by food trucks that come into town and beep their horn to let you know they're open for business.  They hit a couple of spots and fresh bread and all kinds of essentials are there for you to buy out of the back of the truck.  A scale slides out and you can buy all kinds of frozen goods, milk, yogurts and cold cuts.  Then you can go to the city of Haro in 20 minutes for a larger stores for bigger supplies.

A place we'd like to call home.  It is for someone!

Even better - the nights provide a sky like Montana.  Far from the city, the lights are out and you can see the twinkle of distant hill top towns that have just a dozen or so occupied homes.  People are moving out to the country though to restore these houses to their former glory.  The "crisis" has slowed the renewal, but it hasn't stopped it.  And even in this small town of less than 100, you can find 2 mid-sized wineries - and a full fledged medieval castle with a winery that is the only one with a miracle attached to it.

We found a small restaurant that was offered all kinds of grilled food over a fire from the twigs and roots from the vineyards.  We went for lunch and had a very nice bottle of Rioja Tempranillo that cost only 12 euros.  Lunch consisted of 3 appetizers;  tomato and onion salad, small chorizo grilled, and a blood and rice sausage.  Second course was your preference for meat or fish grilled, and then a dessert of your choice.  The feast costs only 18 euros and was a great value.  Cathy had a Riojan Cod and I had the special Pork cutlet that was like boneless pork ribs.  Intertwined with fat and dripping with flavor, the pork was the clear winner.  Cathy did say that she was glad to have some fish for a change, even if she were a little jealous on the pork.

We went back to the house on the square and settled in to the comfortable surroundings.  With a real washing machine, we decided it was time to do some laundry.  After hanging out all the clothes throughout the house to dry, we climbed into the bed and went to sleep after another great day.  Glad to know that we did land softly from our Abalos comfort spot.

Recover and Rest

Recover and Rest
Wednesday March 25, 2015

Sometimes you just have to take a rest on vacation.  We were both so exhausted after yesterday's large meal and indulgence on wines that we both were just ready to relax and enjoy the day.  We were both a little under the weather and fighting a cough that was lingering since the weekend.  It was good for us to just hang out in the room and get in some much needed sleep and shut eye.

During the afternoon, we decided to take some photos of the areas that we have been too before, but haven't spent that much time this visit to the Rioja Alavesa.   Things were now melted and only the distant mountaintops were covered in snow.  The rest of the land was wet with melted snow and small puddles of mirrors reflecting the blue and white skies above.  The weather was as the Irish would say, changeable.  One minute it was sleeting or snowing, and the next it was raining.  Followed by a few minutes of strong sun and all the while wind whipping up and down the hills.  You could see the fog forming on the mountainside with the snow as if dry ice was mixed into the hillside.

Sunny - yet cold and even snow and sleet falling

Sky captured on the ground too.

 We were able to get by and see Eduardo Monge and get a few bottles of his wine too.  We were first introduced to his wine in Valencia by a wine market merchant in the Mercado Central.  We finished up one of his bottles of Ane, named after his daughter, this afternoon while writing the blog.  A very nice find in Rioja for an almost one man shop. We had bottle of his white too - but we had to drink that before going home because the labels were not ready, so we worried Customs would dump it on us.  So more for us to have while in Rioja.  It was a mix of over 12 varieties of whites.  Very good, but still young as he promised it would taste.  He recommends to have it at Christmas.  Sometimes Christmas comes early - and this year it was in March.

Eduardo Monge at Viña Ane

When we were able to eat again, we had a light tapas in the hotel of salad and caramelized goat cheese that swayed us back to the table.   We would be leaving the next day and Jose Luis was serving us that evening.  We decided to break out one of our Albariño wines to share with him and Merche.  It was good to just really unwind in the hotel.  We were the only guests that night, and it was very quiet.  Great to just relax and melt into the beds.

Baigorri Wines and Dines

Baigorri Wines and Dines
Tuesday March 24, 2015

Happy!

When we woke up, we knew we were going to be fed so well today that we would be disgusted with ourselves for eating too much.  So how did we start out the day - with another large breakfast at Villa de Abalos.  It's just so good, it's hard to hold back on any of the breads or fruits and food that they put out for us.  I finished my second large cup of coffee and hot milk, and full well knew that I'll be missing this in just a couple short weeks.  We returned to the room to get as much work done as we could done morning.  This afternoon will be like Thanksgiving afternoon; sleepy and a bit remorseful after too much food and wine.

We drove to the East and there were green and brown fields.  To the West, there were clouds and snow still falling and fog coming down the mountainside like a witches' brew coming over the side of the cauldron.  We were assured by several locals that we're still early in the season and this shouldn't hurt the vines at all.  We pulled into the parking lot for the Baigorri winery and were escorted down to the restaurant.  Today, as it was off season and a Tuesday, we would be the only ones dining with them for the day.  The attention to detail at this restaurant, on any day, is over the top professional. The tables are set like you're attending a State Dinner.  The food is brought out with flair and at the peak time for the next course.

Menu and Final Shots

We saw before us 5 glasses that would be filled during the course of the meal with the opened bottles left on the table.  Attached you can see the menu of the day.  Each course brings out the special qualities of the wine to which they are paired.  Sometimes the wine would go quicker than the food to which they were paired.  Things that wouldn't be to me the first choice on the menu, were the tastiest morsels on the plate.  Sometimes just the toasted crushed corn that was sprinkled over the fresh smoked salmon, would bring a flavor burst that was highlighted even more by the lighter wines that were served with them.  Or the check that was slowly cooked for hours with their red wines and then served with it to further emphasize the flavors.    I'll just post the food menu and the pictures.  If you are in the Rioja Region of Spain - you MUST come here for lunch.  During the week, you'll have the place (practically) to yourself than on the weekends when the tourists from Madrid and family celebrations are toasted in their restaurant.  Where else can you get a six course meal for 45 Euros, including the wine.

At the end, the chef came out to introduce himself, and he was so happy to see that we were over-the-top elated to have made it through the meal and to have a sixth glass put in front of us for dessert.

Crunch Salmon

Artichokes and Spanish Ham

Mini Taco Riajano

Baigorri Wines

Six Pack of Wine

Riojan Bean Casserole

Iberian Pork Jowl

Greek Yogurt and Fresh Fruit

When Vines Snow Over

When Vines Snow Over
Monday March 23, 2015

We woke up this morning after a long night sleep.  It felt good to wake up and not feel bloated from food and wine.  The afternoon Tapas at Villa de Abalos and the quick tortilla Española the night before at the bar for the Barcelona Vs. Madrid was a good plan.  Sad to see Barcelona beat Madrid, but everyone loves to hate Madrid outside of Madrid.  It's like everyone hates Washington D.C. outside the beltway.

We washed, went downstairs and were told to take a look outside.  It was a very rare March snowstorm that had swept in overnight.  We knew it was cold walking around last night, but didn't think we would be waking to snow.  So after breakfast we did a couple of walks around the town and then went back to our room to dry off and warm up.  The snow was wet and slushy on the ground, but it was covering up the roads and so pretty much everything was on hold.  We decided it would make a great day to just hang inside and catch up on paperwork and writing.  We had all we needed for lunch between snacks and nuts and chips.

View from our Room at Villa de Abalos

We made our way out later on that day too to get some photos as the snow was accumulating.  Everyone thought it would melt away, but it just kept building to few inches.  Not a bad thing for the vines at this time of year.  It puts some water in the ground, and it also kills any bugs that may have made it out earlier in the warm weather last week.

We ended up with Tapas that night with another couple from Canada who just checked in on Sunday.  They were here for a biking tour and were planning on swapping their 2nd week for the first week to deal with the snow.

The Vineyards under a blanket of snow

You'd think B&W - but not with that brown hut.

From further away