Page 254 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2023 DISCOVERING TURKEY

After an easy 35-minute drive from the air-
port to our hotel, Maria Cristina on the Bay of
Biscay in San Sebastian, we settled in to enjoy
one of the best three days of food, wines,
walking, touring, connecting with nature, and
just loafing we’d experienced anywhere. To
learn more about San Sebastian, see the story
about Basque cooking in this issue by editors
Ron and Mary James.
From San Sebastian, we headed south on
fine Spanish roads for about 100 miles to the
heart of Rioja. The region is renowned for its
rich history, world-class wineries, charming
small towns, quality restaurants in every price
range, and scenery that ranges from miles of
vineyards lined up and over the rolling hills to
a national park for nature lovers and outdoor
enthusiasts. It’s easy to get around in Rioja,
and you can pack a lot of fun into three, four,
and five days, with fine wines and tapas at ev-
ery turn. Your travel dollar will go further
here, too. Lodging, restaurants, groceries,
gifts, clothing, and most things can run 20 to
25 percent lower than costs in San Sebastian
and Bilbao and big cities like Madrid and
Barcelona.
Our base was the Marqués de Riscal City of
Wine, in the small town of Elciego (Álava), on
the main road, 14 miles from Logroño and 21
from Haro. Its City of Wine includes the origi-
nal bodega, built in 1860; the first enlarge-
ment of the bodega, dating from 1883, where
the company’s premium wines are made; the
winery’s visitors’ center with the souvenir and
gift shop; and our hotel, the striking Hotel
Marqués de Riscal, designed by the renowned
architect, Frank O. Gehry (whose work also in-
cludes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, which
we cover in another article in the next issue).

The view of the vineyards and church show a
typical scene in Rioja, where open land just about
anywhere, including between buildings and in the
side yards of homes, gets planted with vines.

254 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2023