Are you travelling to La Rioja this summer and still have some time left in your diary? Here are some events and activities that will take place during the months of July and August and are guaranteed to make the summer season anything but boring. Our ten suggestions are as follows:
Summer balloon flight
Our first proposal is high altitude. We suggest you go to the town of Anguciana, in the northwest of La Rioja, where you can go up in a hot-air balloon and see the countryside of La Rioja from the sky for about an hour. The landscapes from the sky surprise you with the contrast of colours between the yellow of the cereal fields and the green of the vineyards and forests. A toast with cava during the flight and a Rioja-style brunch after the activity guarantee that this experience will be a complete success.
More information at www.globosarcoiris.com
A wet summer in La Rioja
In La Rioja you can do many river activities such as rafting on the Iregua River, canyoning in the Leza Canyon or canorafting on the Ebro River in Logroño or in the Sotos de Alfaro Nature Reserve. In all these adventures, fun, sensations and laughter are more than guaranteed.
More information at www.moscaventur.com
In a 4×4 in the Sierra de la Demanda
An exciting way to visit the natural environment of the Sierra de la Demanda is to do it in an off-road vehicle and see the majestic mountain scenery that surrounds the Alto Oja region of La Rioja. With a 4×4 you can get close to inaccessible and crowded places, photograph incredible landscapes and observe wildlife in complete freedom.
Two routes are available: Complete mountain range of La Demanda ( 75 km) and Monasterios de San Millán through the Montes de San Lorenzo (60 km). The outings include travel, the nature guide, insurance, and optical observation equipment (binoculars and telescope).
More information at www.silvestresezcaray.blogspot.com
Vivanco, Sharing Wine Culture
An essential visit to discover wine from every angle. The wineries Vivanco are located in Briones, a small village in La Rioja Alta, to offer what for many is the best wine tourism destination in the world. It combines its range of wines, from fresh whites to reserves and collector's wines and its spectacular winery; its museum traces more than 8,000 years of wine history through historical, artistic and documentary works; its creative and sophisticated restaurant offers new ways of discovering wine, etc.
They have a pack of visit to the Museum + Winery + Restaurant that will occupy a full day and you will leave in love with wine. Don't miss the current exhibition Pensando en Vino (Thinking about Wine ) at the Documentation Centre, with more than 67 documentary collections from the 15th century to the present day. You can discover works as relevant as original manuscripts by Pablo Neruda or Louis Pasteur, photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson, advertising posters by Alphonse Mucha...
A delight for the senses.
More information at www.vivancoculturadevino.es or by calling 900 823 536.
Segway Tour through the Ebro Park
Doing a segway tour is a very exciting and safe experience. Segway La Rioja offers a refreshing route with a monitor through the Ebro Park, the great green lung of Logroño. The route, which includes passing over the stone and iron bridges and through the flooded groves, guarantees the best landscapes of the capital of La Rioja.
During a Segway tour along the right bank of the Ebro you can see the Casa de las Ciencias, the old Logroño slaughterhouse, the Plaza de Toros and Riojaforum. Before the excursion, each participant is given a compulsory training in the use and handling of the vehicle, as well as an explanation of the safety measures.
More information at www.segwaylarioja.com
Narrated tours along the wine routes
In summer you can take a route through old Logroño visiting emblematic places in the history of the city and its wine, such as El Cubo del Revellín, La Ruavieja, El Calado de San Gregorio and El Espacio Lagares, among others. The guides put themselves in the shoes of characters from the 16th to 18th centuries who, with a touch of humour, explain the history of an era in which the trade and transit of wine through Logroño was of great importance.
The route is enlivened with traditional music, stories about wine and puppets. The activity ends with a tasting of tapas and wine in the Calado de San Gregorio.
More information at www.logroño.es
II Feast of Transhumance Villa de Tudelilla
On 23 July, the 2nd Villa de Tudelilla Transhumance Festival aims to revive the tradition of transhumance. For a long time, the cattle that took part in the popular festivals in the north of the country were transported from Andalusia through a network of communications formed by cattle trails that crossed the entire Iberian Peninsula. The participants in this fiesta will make the transhumance on horseback and enter the village with the cattle. The festival ends with a traditional picnic lunch and activities for the children during the afternoon.
More information at www.tudelilla.org
Harvest and Milling Festival in Ocón
In summer, the grain is harvested, i.e. harvested, and in the Rioja town of Ocón, it is also milled to turn it into flour. For this reason, on 7 August, the old flour windmill in this town celebrates the Fiesta de la Siega y de la Molienda (Harvest and Milling Festival), where the traditional processes of harvesting, threshing and milling are recreated, followed by the production of exquisite products.
More information at www.elvalledeocon.org
Alimentarte 2016
The little ones also have their space in the summer in La Rioja and one of the activities they like the most is Alimentarte, a programme of gastronomic activities for children that takes place in the San Blas Municipal Market. The aim of this initiative is to awaken children to the pleasure of eating and cooking through the senses.
In Alimentarte's cooking workshops, which are aimed at children aged between 4 and 12, they learn how to make traditional Riojan recipes. They also learn how Logroño's Plaza de Abastos works, in a fun and playful atmosphere.
More information at www.alimentarte.org
As you can see, La Rioja is full of surprises for those who discover it. Come and enjoy a different summer and tell us about your experience!
