My Time in La Rioja Spain

My family and I spent a few days in the famous wine region of Spain called La Rioja. It was a pretty spectacular place and I did loads of things there but let me tell you my favorite things.

During our Rioja trip, we went to the ruins of a Monastery where monks used to live. When you first come down the hill the only thing you see is just an old wall, but when my dad looked down the hill a bit more, we saw something big, very big. It was the rest of the Monk’s place. It was gigantic and built on a cliff. It seemed like just some brick walls but it wasn’t. It was beautifully crafted 25-feet-tall walls built by the monks and I would imagine it wasn’t easy because they would have to climb down some big slopes full of jagged rocks. Besides the fact that it was hard to build, it was amazing. Can you imagine how nice it would have been when it was first built?!

 

My second favorite thing was the caves! They were completely out of this world. The shapes and design of the rocks were crazy. I saw one rock that looked like a seahorse and another that looked like a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull. The only downside was that it was very slippery and full of super pointy rocks. Another weird thing about them is that the rocks looked wet and it felt wet when you touched them but when you rub your hands together afterwards they were completely dry! I didn’t take any pictures but my dad took this one.

Before I tell you about the other things we did, I should also tell you about the vultures we saw. Their wingspan was around the size of a double bed and they were circling above our heads when we went to see the ruins. Our host at Casa Verde told me that the Vultures can’t land and they just move from air pocket to air pocket.

I should also tell you about the cool place we stayed at called Casa Verde. They had a really nice dog and cat. They even had goats. Our hosts were super friendly and they let me borrow rollerblades with hockey sticks and I got to play a little bit of hockey which was really cool.

 

 

 

Last but not least, we went to a Bodegas in the town of Cenicero (pronounced thinethero).  We had a private tour. The Bodegas is called Valentin Pascual and our guide was Jose. It’s not very often you get to do that! He took the time to show us everything he could and his winery was pretty cool. He explained how it all works and how the wine is made. Jose showed us the caves under the city where they keep the wine in wooden barrels and I even got to look inside one. At the end my parents tasted the wine and vermouth. And I ate all the breadsticks 😉

Here’s a video I made about Valentin Pascual Bodegas

We also visited a larger Bodegas called Marques de Riscal. It’s designed by the same guy who did the Guggenheim in Bilbao – Frank Gehry. It was very beautiful but my parents said they enjoyed the smaller Bodegas much more because it was a very personal experience.

 

Thank you for reading my article!