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If you’re visiting Spain for the first time, be warned: this is a country that fast becomes an addiction. It is a magnet for travelers all over the world. The Spanish way of life is irresistible! It’s impossible not to warm to a culture where food, wine, family and friends take priority over almost everything else. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself hooked by something quite different… the wild celebration of some local fiesta, perhaps, or the otherworldly architecture of Barcelona. Even in the best-known places to visit, from Madrid to the coasts, from the high Pyrenees to the Moorish cities of the south. There are genuinely surprising attractions at every turn, whether it’s hip restaurants in the Basque country, the wild landscapes of the central plains, or cutting-edge galleries in the industrial north. Soon, you’ll notice that there is not just one Spain but many.
  • Laguardia is the most important town in La Rioja of Alava, and one of the most beautiful. The region is famous all around the world because of its wines, and because it was the birthplace of fabulist Samaniego. La Rioja of Alava has a perfect climate for farming the wines that give this area its well-deserved fame. It is also an area with numerous archaeological sites, Paleolithic remains, as well as Roman and medieval artefacts.

    The whole urban centre of Laguardia is enclosed by walls, built at the beginning of the 13th century. On each end of Mayor Street we find a church. On one side is the church of San Juan, a Romanesque building that also incorporates several other architectural styles, and on the other, the church of Santa María de los Reyes. The latter has an impressive Gothic main front, one of the few from that period that still preserves the original polychromy. In one of the ends of the walled enclosure, in “El Collado” boulevard, we see the monument dedicated to fabulist Samaniego, who was born in this city.

    It is a great idea to take a walk around Laguardia, since the whole city centre constitutes an interesting historic and artistic site. As we walk we should stop in any of its numerous cellars to taste or buy some of the magnificent local wines.Near the urban centre of Laguardia we find the Dolmen of San Martín, and the Town of La Hoya, whose remains date back to the first millennium before Christ. We can also approach the nature park of “Las Lagunas”, declared a protected biotype.

  • Logroño is a city rich in history and traditions which have been preserved since the Middle Ages. The Pilgrim’s Route to Santiago de Compostela made this one of the most important towns on the route, leaving an interesting monumental legacy closely linked to the traditional passing of the pilgrims.

    The history of Logroño cannot be separated from the Pilgrim’s Route to Santiago de Compostela. Such much so that the city did not gain importance until the rise in popularity of the route, beginning in the 11th century. The Codex Calixtinus (12th century), the first guide to the Pilgrim’s Route to Santiago de Compostela, makes mention of Logroño in its pages. And it is a fact that the passing of merchants, artists and pilgrims through the cobbled streets of the capital of La Rioja for centuries has made the city a crossroads of considerable cultural importance.

    The historic center has significant cultural sites  such as the Cathedral of Santa María la Redonda (15th-18th centuries), with its baroque towers rising above the Market square. The current cathedral premises stand on the site of old circular Romanesque church. Outstanding among the major sculpture work present in the building are the carvings of Gregorio Fernández and a representation of the way of the cross by the Renaissance maestro Michelangelo.

    La Rioja is synonymous with great Spanish wines. For decades, wines from La Rioja, protected by their own Designation of Origin standard, have been an obligatory reference throughout Spain and beyond.