- IMG_2506
The main room made for excellent lounging. - IMG_2507
The walls and chimney are original to the 17th-century blacksmith's. The guest rooms have been built around the edges of the large store room used to pile coal. Lots of stone and dark metal and wood. - IMG_2509
staircase - IMG_2510
Next door is the tower built by the same family in, oh, like the 1400s. - IMG_2512
We started our day with a little walk on a trail that passed the hotel. - IMG_2513
Leslie and cows. Leslie is, at this point, quite sick with a cold. - IMG_2514
a little shrine built into a hill that reminds Leslie of guerilla Buddha shrines in Thailand - IMG_2515
Bryan on the trail - IMG_2517
typical farmhouse - IMG_2518
Sick Leslie and Arti, balm for the spirit - IMG_2519
Bryan on the road again - IMG_2520
We found the roads in Spain to be relentlessly marked with signposts, a boon to the foreign driver. - IMG_2521
mountains - IMG_2524
in the car - IMG_2525
The mountains were covered in a lot of intentional, grid-like reforestation, presumably lumber industry investments. - IMG_2526
random cool bridge - IMG_2527
We rolled through quite a few long, long tunnels. - IMG_2533
craggy - IMG_2535
approaching another tunnel - IMG_2537
At some point, we popped out of a tunnel and found ourselves in La Rioja--wine country! - IMG_2538
We stopped in La Rioja's capital, Haro, for lunch. - IMG_2539
We believe this was part of our brief overlap with the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, evidenced by the occasional sidewalk seashell. - IMG_2540
Bryan learns some facts. - IMG_2541
Leslie and cathedral doors - IMG_2542
A street with two names. One of many, making navigation extra-special. - IMG_2543
Most of the grapevines were sporting their red autumn finery. - IMG_2544
mountain, valley, vines - IMG_2546
whoops, we're zoomed in - IMG_2547
There we are! Arm-out shot with the view from Haro. - IMG_2548
Even mid-day, the late-autumn light and the clouds often looked like sunset.