Wine tours, infinite tapas, and secret cooking societies. I think it's safe to say that this weekend in Logrono was our most authentic experiences in Spain...and the most full I've been in my whole life. Logrono is a small city in northern Spain, about 10 minutes outside of the border of the Basque country and an hour away from San-Sebastian. If you have ever seen a Spanish wine with Rioja on the label, it is from this region. Nestled inside of the Cameros Mountain range, the altitude and moisture combination gives this region a special recipe for prime grape production. Another plus about this region -- Lilly has family in Logrono! Her father's cousin settled in this city a few years ago and was generous enough allow us to spend a weekend with him and his family...
Again, trip narrative below followed by a concise bullet-point recap of what we did
We left Madrid on a train around 6:30 on Friday evening from the Puerta de Atocha station. Prior to boarding the train, we checked out the rules about bringing wine on Renfe trains; we came to find out that every passenger is allotted 1 bottle per person. So, of course we decided to botellón on the way to Logrono with an Albarino, cheese and crackers, and olives. Side note: the cheese that I bought had eggs in it…so if you’re allergic be sure to read the labels in Spain (so weird). Anyway, we spent the 3.5 hour train ride listening to music, playing cards, reading, and chatting. We arrived in Logrono around 9:45 that night and Paco and Paquito Honrubia were waiting on us inside of the station with a warm welcome. We quickly got in the car, checked into the hotel, and met Merecedes and Martina (mom and daughter) at their family’s favorite Spanish restaurant. Our meal was filled with conversation about our time we had spent in Spain, the different cultures we had experienced, Lilly’s family tree, and the importance of trying to learn new languages. To eat, we had some traditional Spanish food—tortilla de patata, tuna salad with tomatoes, a large cut of steak, and of course a selection of desserts ranging from rich cinnamon bread with ice cream to tiramisu. We ended dinner right before 1:00 AM (yes, in Spain we eat LATE), said our goodbyes, then walked the streets of Logrono until we reached our hotel.
Paco told us to be ready to leave the hotel at 11:00 so that he could pick us up and show us one of the vineyards near Logrono. He drove us outside of Logrono and into the Basque Country—the city center is only about 10 minutes from the border! We took a detour to see the small, charming town of LaGuardia. We wandered the streets and admired the views the town offered of the nearby vineyards for about an hour and asked Paquito all kinds of questions about the life of a 15-year-old boy in Spain. We then made our way to the car and found ourselves at the Campillo vineyard in about five minutes. Everything about the inside of the winery was gorgeous! Paco gave us a bit of a history lesson of aging process of wine in barrels—when wine was first produced and traded, ships would transport the wine in large oak barrels across the sea in boats. However, the wine that arrived in the receiving country tasted much better than the wines that were produced and immediately bottled in its home country. Because of this aging process in the barrels, Campillo decided to make their barrel storage room shaped like a boat (see cover photo of this post)—it was so beautiful and unique! Also, you couldn’t believe how much wine was on-site at the vineyard. After doing some quick math, we discovered that if each barrel were to be immediately bottled, Campillo would be about to distribute 16 billion bottles of wine! We made our way upstairs to the tasting area, and sipped on two reds and one white wine accompanied with a plate of meat and cheese.
LaGuardia, Spain
LaGuardia, Spain
Once we had finished up at Campillo, we went back to Logrono to meet up with Martina and Mercedes for lunch. Logrono has this street filled with over 150 tapas bars—it is truly a progressive meal heaven. The street, Calle del Laurel, was right off of the main square and about a two-minute walk from the Honrubia’s apartment. We started off with bocadillos de jamon and a glass of wine, made our way to Mexican tapas—nachos, burritos, quesadillas, margaritas—and finished our tour with gelato. There were so many other restaurants to choose from, each with their own unique specialty. I remember one of the places only served different forms of mushrooms! If you are ever in Logrono, this is a great way to spend an afternoon.
After we almost ready to explode from all of the food, we walked around the river for a little bit, then headed back to the hotel. We took naps, got ready for dinner, grabbed a coffee, walked around the more crowded Saturday-night Logrono streets, and met the Honrubias back at their place at 8:00 sharp. We were not exactly sure what dinner was going to entail. Paco had told us earlier that we were going to be cooking at a members-only club. So I went in to dinner expecting it to be somewhat of a cooking class; little did I know that this would be one of my favorite experiences that I have had abroad. We were guided to dinner by Mercedes, who stopped on a dead-silent street with almost 0 signs of life and said “we’re here!” I was a little bit confused but also intrigued to see what was inside.
We entered this old, walls-made-of-stone, and creaky wooden floor building and made our way down the stairs into a room that was filled with mouth-watering smells. We were soon greeted by Paco, Paquito, and two men with aprons on. At this point, I had no idea what was going on. They poured us glasses of wine and gave us a grand tour of the building. Here was what we learned: the building was made over two centuries ago. I can’t recall the original purpose of the building, however, it has now been turned in to a very elite cooking club—La Bercada. It's a place for people to host a dinner party outside of the kitchen in their home. The club is stocked with all cooking supplies, foods, wine, beer, and even paella pans at least a yard in width. There are only 40 members at a time, and in order to become a member, someone must sell their spot. However, not just anyone can bid on the spot. Your name must be brought up by at least two current members, and if anyone that is currently in the club believes that you are not fit to be a member, you are automatically rejected from the list, no questions asked. As you can tell, there is a sort of sense of pride that comes with being a member. It’s an honor to be a member of Logrono society that is well-known enough to be “put up” for a membership. As for the building itself, there were about 5 kitchens all with their own dining rooms. These kitchens did not have state-of-the-art stainless steel appliances or fresh granite counter tops or well-lacquered dining room tables. All of them were simple, old, and inviting. Each room seemed like a place where a modest family would eat their dinners together. It gave off a feeling of quaintness and belonging and warmth. Those characteristics were quite prevalent throughout our incredible dinner. We had chorizo with amazing peppers, a salad with angulas (baby eels), braised Iberian pork cheeks with sliced potatoes, chuche (sour candy), and pastisoria (kind of like a chocolate covered pastry). I mean, we truly feasted that night…I honestly don’t think I’ve recovered since then. However, we were told an extremely ~profound~ phrase that night, “eat and remember.” At first, we started dying laughing at the combination of these three words. What it really means is you should eat as much as you want because there’s nothing like it in your country and you’ll wish you had more of it when you go back home; and every time you want it again, you’ll think of your time that you spent in that special place. It has definitely become a phrase / excuse that I’m more than willing to get behind while I’m abroad (lol). We left dinner with full stomachs, grateful hearts, and our very own La Bercada apron. Martina and her friend took us a little bar in Logrono to have a nightcap. We chatted and laughed at an outdoor table in the middle of a plaza near the center of Logrono and enjoyed our last night in Logrono.
The next morning, we slept in, grabbed breakfast at the hotel, packed, checked out, and headed to the Honrubia’s apartment to drop off our suitcases. We wanted to get a gift for the Honrubias for treating us so generously throughout our weekend with them. Lilly’s mom told us that Mercedes loves house plants, so we found her very favorite store which was right off the main square of Logrono. Casa Mazo (the store) wasn’t open, but the owner was inside creating arrangements with the door half-closed. He let us in and helped us find the perfect plant for Mercedes—he was the sweetest. Also, during this particular weekend, almost every single shop in Logrono had a booth in the main square for an end-of-the-season sale. We continued our shopping spree looking through the booths and walked in a few boutiques near the square as well. Soon it was time for us to go back up to the Honrubias to meet them for lunch; we met them at their apartment, ordered food for delivery, and sat around their kitchen table talking and playing with Bali (their dog). After lunch, we said our goodbyes to Paquito and Martina, then loaded up in Mercedes car for the 5-minute drive to the bus station (we took the bus back to Madrid from Logrono because the only train that was outbound for Madrid was at 7:00 AM on that Sunday morning). We hugged Paco and Mercedes tightly and said our farewells—it really was sad leaving Lilly’s family. We loaded on the bus and prepared ourselves for the four-hour drive. Surprisingly, the bus was actually really big and more spacious than the train (but it definitely felt like a much longer trip). On the way back to Madrid, we actually passed through some stunning snowy mountains, then through a hilly region with windmills, and finally the flatter highway that led us to Madrid’s Bajaras airport. We took a 25 minute taxi back to our dorm, unpacked, then I got ready to meet my sweet Grace Morrison for dinner at Sushita Cafe! So thankful I got to spend time with my bestie on her spring break
Logrono will hold a special place in my heart—mainly because of Lilly’s family—but also because of its welcoming and warming nature, simple lifestyle, and fresh air. I would definitely recommend a weekend in Logrono if you want a relaxing get-away and to learn more about Spanish wine and food!
Thank you for reading! Until next time
Happy travels!
<3,
Mary Price
List of Places We Went in Logrono:
- Our travel plans:
- To Logrono: took a train
- From Logrono: took a bus
- Stayed: Gran Via Hotel
- Visited the town of LaGuardia
- Campillo Vineyard & Winery
- Tapas crawl on Calle del Laurel
- Walked along the Ebro river
- Dinner at La Bercada (cooking club, not restaurant)
- Shopping along the main square
- Casa Mazo (flower / garden shop…also has candles, pretty ornaments, ect.)
- Some cute, inexpensive boutiques around the square as well
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