In the morning we arranged a wine tasting at Bodegas Javier San Pedro Ortega. There are so many bodegas (winery) in this region but we were happy to just visit the one. We chose this one because we had a glass of wine from this bodega when living in Galicia and really liked it. The winemaker is also a young guy from a 5th generation wine making family from this region and has gone out on his own to produce a different more modern wine from the tradional tempranillo that this region is renowned for. Their motto is piensa menos, siente mas – think less, feel more.

We tasted 4 wines and some tapas to go with it and Maria, our host was wonderful, very informative and spoke very good English which I was very appreciative of. I also ordered and additional glass of their sweet white wine which they are known for and is popular in the egional bars and restaurants and was curious to see what it was like as I would normally not drink a sweet wine. All fo the wine was excellent and after a relaxing couple of hours we stumbled out to head for lunch. We bought some bottles of wine and they also make a vermouth so of course we had to buy one of those as well. The bodega sits opposite the Bodegas Ysios which is very famous for it’s building.

Our lunch stop was 2 minute drive down the road – thank goodness!

Again lunch was menu del dia and delicous. They served a roast lamb dish which I have been missing since we have not seen much on menus anywhere else. So good and they give you a bottle of wine and a bottle of water instead of the usual glass so again that was fun and we had a long lunch to soak up some alcohol.

After this we drove up into the mountains again (poor Freddy Fiesta sure is earning his keep) to Gesaltza Añana where Añanako Gatz Harana (Salt Valley of Añana).

Salt has been produced in this valley from springs for 7,000 years, the oldest production in the world.

We did a tour of the salt valley where they produce the salt. Very intersting and informative. Parts of the valley are not used as they concentrate on quality of product instead of quantity and also conduct research as well.

“Valle Salado, one of the oldest industries in the world. Valle Salado is one of the best examples worldwide of the history of salt, known since antiquity as “white gold”. The natural emergence of the salt springs caused the establishment of a settlement in the surrounding area that has developed uninterruptedly for thousands of years and that, based on the production of salt, has learned to adapt to the conditions and specificities of each historical period.” https://vallesalado.com/History