It’s a 4-1/2 hour train trip from Barcelona. It’s amazing how those four hours can glide by. Reading, knitting, looking out the windows, it’s pretty relaxing.

We’ve been to Logroño several times before. The first visit was to experience the Fiestas de San Mateo, their fall harvest festival. Being the capital of La Rioja, there are plenty of grapes to be harvested, and wine to be drunk. These people work hard all year, and they know how to pull out all the stops and celebrate for an entire week! Food, wine, music, family and community— those are the words that aptly describe Logroño.

The first time we came for this, it was pretty hot. This year there was a lot of rain! But after early in our visit, the skies cleared pretty well and the parties went on! We were staying in a lovely home exchange. Luis’s 3 bedroom apartment was spacious and had great views. He lives there with his teenage kids, Estrella and Adán. While we were in their home, they were enjoying a holiday in Tenerife, Las Canarias— the Canary Islands.

I did my best to cull down the photos and videos, but there are still a ton here. Check out what you will, I won’t blame you if you don’t look at it all!

The kick-off of the festival was Friday afternoon. We arrived just as the "rockets went off" at the city hall. We were just coming in by taxi when we heard that. Later, we saw plenty of young people looking like this— hand painted t-shirts, torn and wet with red wine. They apparently spray themselves with wine from those bota bags!

*Walking back to our apartment after lunch, it began to rain. And pour! We didn't have our umbrellas with us, so we stood here until it lightened up!*

The Apartment

Here’s the walk-through video. Posted on YouTube.

Saturday

Thus begins our days of walking, eating, running into bands and parades, and LOTS of people! Illustrated by photos and videos. Some have captions, some will not. Hover over photos to make sure a caption pops up when there is one.

This is the “Tragantua” that is a huge hit with kids.

Sunday

Batucada: is a substyle of samba and refers to a percussive style, usually performed by an ensemble, known as a bateria. Batucada music is characterized by its syncopated style and fast pace with a marked rhythm. Originated in Brazil, it’s quite popular in northern Spain.

Monday

After a weekend full of festivities and eating, I had the idea to go out for a walk outside of the town. We’d been to a trail that goes to a nature park before. It’s part of the Camino de Santiago. Bob had figured out the bus and enjoyed getting himself his own transit card (he collects these everywhere.) We were walking towards the bus stop when we came upon… yet another big street event! It was a big cooking competition of teams making their versions of caldereta— a local type of stew. It was just too fun to wander about and take it all in. Never mind, hike in a park!

Snippet of the caldereta judging, video on YouTube.

Fireworks and Drone Shows

The city put on these shows for several nights. Most everything was visible from our terrace. I posted a video on YouTube.

Tuesday

Another day filled with festival activities on the streets, and a visit to an art exhibition.

Wednesday

Our last day. Our train didn’t leave till 6pm, so we had a good part of the day to enjoy. At 11 am, there was a fun event occurring at Peña La Union, one of the neighborhood social clubs. Coincidentally, the first time we came to Logroño, our Airbnb was right next door to this. At the time, we didn’t understand what a peña was, until the week unfolded and we saw them all around— doing the cooking at degustations, with bands and the group marching in parades. Now we get it!

Last January when we were in Bilbao, we often watched at a corner bar guys playing the “Rana” game. Rana = frog. It was so cool, we bought ourselves a rana, and the coins for the game. So when we saw that Peña La Union had this game in at their club, we were excited. Of course were going to attend the competition if we could!
Video snippet on YouTube.