Discover La Rioja

Govantes says in his Geographical-Historical Dictionary of Spain (1846)
-"the town, on a hill, dominates much of the country... and a traveller approaching Briones for the first time sees its silhouette from afar,..."

It is a cultural tourism route that starts at the monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla, in La Rioja, and continues through five locations that have a special relationship with the history of the Spanish language.

More than 120 million years ago dinosaurs inhabited what is now La Rioja. In the 1970s, palaeontologists discovered a series of ichnites (fossilised footprints) here.

For many centuries, the Riojan part of the Ebro Valley was the site of conflict between Christians and Muslims and between the kingdoms of Castile and Navarre. This prompted the construction of numerous castles and fortresses to defend the conquered lands.

The Way of Saint James, first European Cultural Route and World Heritage, is one of the most extensively used tourist routes by travellers to learn about the history, art and culture of La Rioja.

The first evidence of the presence of man in the land of La Rioja goes back to the Middle Palaeolithic, more than 80,000 years ago, in the Valley of the Cárdenas River between Badarán and Villar de Torre.

There are several festivals which represent historical episodes, such as the "Batalla del Vino" (Battle of Wine), San Bernanbe or San Mateo.

In addition to the Sierra de Cebollera Nature Reserve, the first protected natural area of La Rioja, there are other nature areas integrated into the Natura 2000 network as places of Community interest, some already included in this European network.