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A Taste of Northern Spain Tour
Wednesday, Oct. 28 – Saturday, November 8
(Terms & Conditions Available on Request)
$5795 (double occcupancy) without airfare;
$900 single room supplement
Tour limited to 12 guests.
Gerry Dawes, John Sconzo and George Mendes at Casa Botín during Madrid Fusión 2013. Photo by L. J. Sconzo.
Day 00 Wed, October 28 Fly USA – Madrid – Vigo
Flights should be booked via Madrid with Vigo as the final destination. Iberia Airlines is your best bet.
Day 01 Thurs., Oct 29 Madrid – Vigo – Cambados
Arrive in Madrid, transfer to the plane
to Vigo, pickup at Vigo airport by small bus, drive via the Rias
(fjords) to Pontevedra and visit the most important fish market in
Spain, then on to nearby Cambados, check into Casa Rosita, give our
guests some time to freshen up, then have lunch nearby in a special
seafood restaurant and return to the hotel for a siesta. In the
evening, we will have a light seafood dinner in Cambados and turn in
early.
Rías de Vigo with shellfish rafts beyond the boats. Photograph by Gerry Dawes.
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After arriving at Vigo, Galicia via
New York and Madrid, my first tapas of the trip, deviled eggs and
empanada de atun, Estrella de Galicia cerveza. A Centoleira, Playa de Beluso, Bueu (Pontevedra), Galicia.
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.
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Day 02 Friday, Oct. 30 Cambados
Drive to vine-covered Meaño through wine
country and visit the artesano Albariño producers and taste wines from
six wineries, then drive to O Grove and take a boat (if available) out
into the Rias and visit some of bateas (shellfish rafts) and eat steamed
mussels fresh from a batea, then back in O Grove to D’ Berto
for lunch, where we will accompany the lunch with the artesano wines,
some 6-8 of them.
Paco Dovalo, President of the Asociación de Bodegas Artesanas, and Gerry Dawes
at the Encontro de Viño de Autor in Meaño.
After lunch, we will take an hour’s ride back to
Cambados and visit the fish market, then the old fisherman’s port and
the old quarters of Cambados and have a light dinner in a bar-restaurant
in the fishermen’s quarter.
Mussels from the bateas (anchored rafts for farming Galicia’s famous shellfish).
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.
Employee on the boat
Pelegrin feeds a mussel taken from one of the bateas, shellfish farm
rafts, to a sea gull, O Grove (Pontevedra). Photo by Gerry Dawes.
Day 03 Saturday, Oct. 31 Cambados – Santiago de Compostela – Ribadavia – Ribeiro – Monforte de Lemos
We will ride 45 minutes in the morning
to the great city of Santiago de Compostela, the spiritual capital of
Galicia, visit the magnificent Cathedral and Cathedral Square, stroll
through old historic Santiago, the destination point for the renowned
Camino de Santiago, then visit Santiago’s wonderful municipal market and
have a tapas lunch at one of most innovative and best restaurants in
town located right in the market.
Iago Pazos with empanadas at Abastos 2.0 market bar in the market of Santiago de Compostela.
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com.
After lunch, we will drive an hour or so
to Ribadavia, which has one of the best preserved old Jewish quarters
in northern Spain, then 10 minutes away, we will visit one of the best
wineries in the Ribeiro wine region and taste wines with the
owner-winemaker.
Sign denoting that this was
the Barrio Judio from the 12th to the 16th century, in the old Jewish
quarter of Ribadavia (Ourense), Galicia.
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2012; gerrydawes@aol.com
Video of Manuel Formigo winery in Ribeiro.
Another hour through very picturesque
Galicia will take us to the important town of Monforte de Lemos, where
we will check in the Parador Nacional de Turismo, which is in a former
convent perched a hill. After we check in, we will take a short walking
tour of the older sections of Monforte, then relax at the parador until
time for dinner, which will be 200 yards down the hill at one of the
best regional specialty restaurants in the region. Several winemakers
from La Ribera Sacra, one of the greatest red wine regions (with some
surprising white wines as well) in Spain, will join us for dinner with
their wines. After dinner, we will return to the Parador early.
Chef Michael Chiarello,
Bottega, Napa Valley with José Manuel Rodríguez, President of the D.O.
Ribeira Sacra and producer of The Spanish Artisan Wine Group wine,
Décima, in José Manuel's precipitously steep Ribeira Sacra vineyards on the Sil River. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.
Day 04 Sunday, Nov. 1 Ribeira Sacra – Chantada - Monforte de Lemos
After a leisurely breakfast on Sunday
morning, we will drive half an hour to spectacular Miño River wine
region south of the town of Chantada. We will visit several wineries,
have lunch with several winemakers and their wines at a special
restaurant right on the river, then take a boat ride for an hour on the
incredibly picturesque Miño, where the steep hill are covered in vines
planted right down to the river’s edge.
Gerry Dawes and winemaker Roberto Regal with several top wines from small artisan producers from the vineyards that line the Miño river around the town of Chantada. At Belesar in Lugo province.
After lunch, we will drive an hour to
the southeast back past Monforte to visit the awesome Sil River canyons
that are filled with some of the greatest vineyards in La Ribeira Sacra.
We will visit some unique wineries and then have an early dinner in a
restaurant-winery in the prime Amandi region of Ribeira Sacra.
After
dinner, we will return to Monforte de Lemos to the Parador, where we can
have optional libations in the patio bar and review the events of the
past few days.
Day 05 Monday, Nov. 2 Ribeira Sacra – Valdeorras – Villafranca del Bierzo – Cangas de Onís (Asturias).
Catch the optical illusion at the rim of the glass (look the rim for a few seconds and it will change perspective). Kay Balun at D. Berna with a glass of D. Berna Godello, Córgomo, Valdeorras, Galicia.
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2012; gerrydawes@aol.com
After breakfast at the Parador, we will
embark on a 45-minute drive through wine country to Valdeorras, where we
will visit two wineries that make wonderful wines from one of the
greatest white wine grapes in the world, Godello. The mother of one of
our winery principals has a bar-restaurant in the center of the main
town, O Barco de Valdeorras, where we will taste wines and sample
Galician specialties like steamed octopus with olive oil, sea salt and
Spanish paprika and empanadas fulled with tuna, shellfish or meat.
From O Barco, we will drive 45 minutes
to El Bierzo, where visit the picturesque Camino de Santiago and major
wine town of Cacabelos and taste wines with 2-3 winemakers, then have
lunch with some of the wines at a lovely restaurant in Villafranca del
Bierzo frequented by local winemakers and located in a small charming
hotel that sits right on the Camino de Santiago.
After lunch, all but our bus driver will
have a bus siesta as we pass through the Picos de Europa mountains and
into Asturias, a drive of about two hours with stops.
We will stay in the colorful Asturian
town of Cangas de Onis, which is deep in the Parque Nacional de Quesos,
the main town of one of the greatest cheese and cider regions in Europe.
We will check into our hotel in Cangas, visit some cheesemakers and
Cabrales aging caves and taste cheeses accompanied by cider poured
splashing into wide-mouthed glasses from bottles held high above their
heads by dexterous cider-pouring barmen. We will have dinner in a very
colorful sidreria with a cheese guru and sample more cheeses, local specialties such as fabada Asturiana and wonderful steaks.
After dinner, we will return to Cangas.
Pouring cider at El Campanu, Cangas de Onís, Asturias.
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2012; gerrydawes@aol.com
Day 06 Tuesday, November 3 Asturias – Santillana del Mar – Bilbao
In the morning, we will relax and leave
time for shopping in Cangas, visit a couple of cheese villages, then
drive north of Oviedo to have lunch at one of the best restaurants in
northern Spain, Michelin-starred Casa Gerardo, where father-and-son Chef
team Pedro and Marcos Morán will prepare a special menu for us.
After lunch we will drive to Bilbao,
diverting to see some of the dramatic Asturian and Cantabrian coasts and
fishing ports, along the way. We will stop for an hour in the
picturesque medieval village of Santillana del Mar, then drive on to
Bilbao arriving in the evening.
We will check into our centrally located
hotel in Bilbao, then have tapas in the colorful Plaza Nueva before
settling into a wonderful restaurant in the Bilbao barrio of Deusto,
where we will have some superb steaks (or fish for those who choose not
to have steak), roasted red peppers, salad, sidra (cider) and red and Rosado wines from nearby Basque Rioja Alavesa.
There is a casino in Bilbao for optional games and local bars where we can have the option of relaxing with adult libations.
Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.
Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2014. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com.
Day 07, Wednesday, Nov. 4 Bilbao – San Sebastián
In the morning, we will have a guided tour of the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, which was designed by Frank Gehry.
After the museum tour we will drive to
the coast to see some enchanting fishing villages, then drop down into
the mountains of the interior of The Basque Country and have lunch at Asador Etxebarri, one of the greatest grill restaurants in the world.
After lunch, we will ride an hour to San Sebastián to our hotel, which overlooks the famous La Concha beach and bay.
After some time to settle into the
hotel, we will do a walking tour of the old quarter of San Sebastián,
which has the highest concentration of bars (mostly tapas
bar-restaurants) in Europe and is a great area for shopping for original
gifts. (We can make a stop in the market building to allow those who
want to put some laundry in for afternoon or next morning pickup at Cinc
a Sec.)
In early evening in two groups, we will
sample tapas in a few bars, then gather at one of the best and most
colorful of them and have sit-down tapas in their basement restaurant.
Amaia and Jose (owners of Bar-Asador Ganbara), and Chef Michael Chiarello (Bottega, Napa Valley & Coqueta, San Francisco), Ganbara, Casco Viejo (old quarter), San Sebastián. Photo by Gerry Dawes.
Day 08, Thursday, November 5 San Sebastián
This morning, we will walk back over to
the old quarter and visit the markets—La Brecha for fish, all kinds of
meat, cheeses, vegetables, etc. and the outdoor farmers’ market.
After we visit the market, we will take
our bus for a 15-minute ride to the Pasaia port, where we will take a
five-minute ferry ride to Pasaia Donibane (Pasajes de San Juan in
Spanish), a picturesque one-street town where Victor Hugo lived for a
year. We will explore this photogenic waterside village, then have lunch
in a wonderful typical restaurant overlooking the inlet, where Basque
rowers can usually be seen practicing their sport.
We will return to San Sebastián after
lunch and the afternoon will be free to explore this
glorious city, walk
on the beach, shop, etc.
In early evening, wearing jackets and
ties for the gentlemen, evening attire for the ladies, we will gather in
the hotel lobby and then board our bus for a short ride up to Monte
Igueldo, where we will see breathtaking view overlooking San Sebastián
and the sea.
After this breathtaking beginning, we will take a short
drive to a Michelin 3 star restaurant to meet the chef and dine on some
of his cocina de vanguardia vasca creations that have made this city famous as one of the great gastronomy destinations in the world.
Day 09 Friday, November 6 San Sebastián – Getaria – Olite – Tudela
The morning will be free to explore this
glorious city, walk on the beach, shop, etc. Again, around noon, we
gather back at the hotel, and with our bags on board the bus, drive 30
minutes west to very picturesque fishing village of Getaria on the
Basque Coast, where we will have a seafood lunch at one of the best fish
restaurants in the world.
Getaria, near San Sebastián. Photograph by Gerry Dawes ©2014
Wylie Dufresne and Drew Nieporent pose as David Chang contemplates how "f-king" great the dinner at Elkano was. San Sebastián Gastronomika 2010.
Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2010. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com.
After lunch, we will ride through the
dramatic foothills of the Pyrenees into Navarra, stop at the charming
castle village of Olite, then half an hour south, we will reach the
southern Navarra town of Tudela, a historic Christian-Jewish-and Moorish
town with an evocative old quarter. We will visit the magnificent
restored church, which has one of the greatest 13th Century Romanesque doorways in Europe, plus vestiges of the former synagogue and a former mosque that once stood on this site.
Aliaga Lágrima de Garnacha Navarra Rosado 2012 at El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra). Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.
In the early evening, we will drive to nearby Corella
and have dinner in one of the best and most unsung vegetable-dish
focused restaurants in northern Spain. This region is famous for its
vegetables–you will have none better in all of Spain. In addition to
dishes such as a salad cardos y semillas de granada (cardoons with pomegranate seeds), pimientos de cristál (red peppers), pochas (supernal beans) and deep-fried alcachofas con foie (artichokes (served with foie gras) and esparragos blancos (white asparagus), there are dishes such as pan-seared bacalao on a bed of vegetables, roast kid with patatas panaderas and turron ice cream with torrijas (you will thank us for introducing you to this dessert—and this restaurant).
Cardoons with a special touch, granada (pomegranate seeds) and the house's own extra virgin olive oil from Navarra, El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra).
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.
We will return to our hotel, which is parador-esque, ensconced in a renovated historic building.
Day 10 Saturday, November 7 Tudela – Zaragoza – Madrid
In the morning, we will ride an hour to
Zaragoza, take a tour of the old city, then head for Madrid, stopping
for a snack along the way.
We will arrive at our central Madrid hotel, check in and go to lunch in Madrid’s old quarter.
The afternoon will be free for touring the Prado Museum, strolling and shopping.
We will gather in our hotel in the early
evening, have drinks in a restaurant overlooking the Plaza de Cibeles,
then have our farewell dinner in Madrid’s old quarter on typical
Castillian specialties.
Optional Flamenco show.
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Victoria Duende, one of the
stars at Madrid's Café de Chinitas, also danced at Corral de la Morería
in Madrid. Victoria Duende was born in el barrio de la Macarena in
Sevilla and began to study dance at age 3 under the great Matilde Coral,
a splendid dancer who used to perform at Sevilla's legendary La Cuadra
with her husband Rafael El Negro and the great dancer El Farruco.
Photo
by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.
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Chef Georges Mendes (Aldea, New York) with a plate of carabineros
at El Pecado Original at the Mercado de San Miguel, with L. J. Sconzo
and Mendes's sous chef at Aldea, Mitchell Barr.
Photo by Gerry
Dawes©2015 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 50D / Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Day 11, Sunday, Nov. 8 Madrid – USA
Taxis in the morning to Madrid airport
to catch flights back to the U.S. Option for more days in Madrid, visits
to Segovia, Avila, Toledo, etc.
Option to spend more days in Madrid, visit other parts of Spain.
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About Gerry Dawes
Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel
G
Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.
Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.
". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts.
Pilot for a proposed reality television series
on wine, gastronomy,
culture and travel in Spain with Gerry Dawes.
Gerry Dawes, Juanito Bayen (owner of Bar Pinotxo) and the late Juli Soler (the front of the house genius behind elBulli) at Pinotxo Bar, Barcelona, Jan. 14, 2014. Photo courtesy of
Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes
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