Logroño

We had a wonderful visit to Logroño. Mike served part of his mission there and a very good friend who Mike baptized still lives there, Alexis. It was so wonderful to see Alexis. He is an amazing man and we loved hanging out with him. He and Jay really hit it off.
Logroño is an awesome city. It's one of my favorites in Spain. I had been with Mike once before and it was great to go back. The city is so clean and beautiful. The tapas there are seriously to die for. They are the best in Spain and there are SO many.
Here is tapa street. As you can tell, it's very popular.
We ate as much as we could while we were there. Some of our favorites were pineapple and shrimp kabobs, garlic mushrooms (Mike's absolute favorite), patatas bravas (potatoes covered in a spicy sauce), pulpo gallego (octopus),and little pork sandwiches. YUM! They also serve this great grape juice called mosto if you'd rather not drink alcohol. It's made with the same grapes they use for the wine. This guy in the background seemed to think we were a little crazy for taking pictures. Speaking of wine, the wine there is very famous. Rioja wine is very well known and it's made right there near Logroño. Jay really enjoyed the city. There is this cool little musical park by the river that he enjoyed playing at. They have all these toys that create music. It's pretty neat. We had so much fun visiting with Alexis. We only wish we could see him more often!

Outside of Logroño we visited the village where much of the Rioja wine is made. It's called Laguardia. What a neat village! It's tiny and built up high on a little hill. It is actually one of the best preserved medieval villages in Spain. The whole city is surrounded by an ancient wall dating back to the 15th century. The village was actually originally built underground as a strategic defense. Deep tunnels were carved out of the hill to create it. Those same tunnels are now used to make and store the wine. It's pretty impressive! While we were there they were holding their annual patatas a la riojana cooking contest. I think everyone from the village was in the tiny square to celebrate. It was really fun! We had a great time exploring the city and the best part is that there are no cars allowed inside the walls so we didn't have to worry about Jay as he sprinted the streets.

We came across this sign while we were walking along the street and it made us laugh. It says, "Closed for vacation. We open September 1, 2009." Can you imagine seeing that in the States?