All The World’s A Stage

We left the beautiful village of Saint Emilion and drove through the Pyrenees to the Rioja region of Spain

We drove through the famous Basque region, where we saw some typical Basque men in there traditional garb-

We arrived in the Rjoha region of Northern Spain which is arguably Spain’s most famous wine region where we again rented bikes.  Mountain bikes which were somewhere between the tanks of Pauillac and the sleek gravel bikes of St Emilion.  We then toured some of the pretty and mountainous region of Rjoha-

Most of the small Spanish villages in Rioja are located on hilltops. Which is a delightful prospect as you approach by bike-

Geo spotted these small rounded structures which reminded him of the Beehives that the monks of  west Ireland lived in during the dark ages and thought that perhaps that was the case with some Spanish monks or at least modern  indigents -

But it turned out they were just trash bins.

The hilltop Spanish villages in this part of the country are truly beautiful and evoke a late medieval/early renaissance epoch (14th- 16th

Geo alertly spotted a stage in one of these villages, and I was able to perform some Shakespeare for the folks in the plaza -

Applause seemed muted but perhaps it was a translation thing. 

We enjoyed some great tapas and wine at a classic Spanish cafe-

The food and wine here are considerably cheaper than in  Bordeaux-

The wine tasting was fun and the countryside pretty