How different is the food in the various regions of Spain? You will find an answer to that along the Taste of Northern Spain route -- a gastronomic itinerary that takes you from Catalonia to Aragon and on to the Basque region. If you enjoy good food and wine, this is a drive you have to make. Buen provecha, Bon profit and On egin.
Total drive approx: 760 kms
Barcelona
Day 1. Depart: Barcelona O/night: Zaragoza Approx:320 kms
Take the Avinguda Diagonal west out of Barcelona and join the A2 heading north to Lleida, which is the Catalan name for the city the Spanish call Lerida (let the confusion begin). In either language, it’s a couple of hours drive along a toll free road on day when traffic is kind to you.
It’s a scenic route with mountainous twists and turns, and several points of interest for you to explore along the way. When planning your drive remember that Spaniards have taken to the roads in record numbers in recent years, so traffic on Friday and Sunday (or Monday or Thursday if Friday or Monday is a holiday) can be heavy. Try to avoid long drives on those days.
After about an hour’s drive from Barcelona you come to El Bruc, a village that sits at the foot of the Montserrat mountain. There’s a local road that connects to Montserrat monastery at the top of the mountain, which has existed through Spain's turbulent history in one form or another for a thousand years. Once the home of hermit monks, the Benedictine monastery is known for its Black Madonna statue, which attracts thousands of pilgrims every year. It is one of fifteen Black Madonnas to be found in churches around Spain. The dark colour of the statue comes from the innumerable candles and lamps that have burned day and night before the image over the centuries.
Montserrat monastery
The Black Madonna at Montserrat is claimed to work miracles and is one of the most celebrated religious statues in Spain. If you wanted to make the drive up to the Montserrat monastery, plan a full day’s trip from Barcelona. From the main road it’s a ten-minute or so drive around a series of sharp twists and turns to get to it. If 'adventure' roads are not your thing, it may be easier to park your car at the lift station and take the cable car up.
From El Bruc it’s a further twenty kilometres along the A2 to Igualada, which sits in a rich agricultural and wine-producing area. There is an old part of Igualada that dates back many centuries with narrow streets and the remains of a fortress.
The Igualada Leather Museum
There are three attractions you might be interested in while passing through Igualada. The Leather Museum (Museu de la Pell d'Igualada) is one of only four such museums to be found in Europe, and takes you back to a typical 18th century tannery (without the smells). There is also a Muleteer’s Museum that explains the evolution of transport using animals such as mules, oxen and horses – which on self-drive route has a special meaning (puts horsepower into perspective). And then there is the new Igualada Cemetery (Cementiri Nou), built in the late 1990s – not morbid or forbidding, but described as ‘a piece of poetry’ – it certainly is ‘different’.
Igualada’s claim to fame is that it hosts the annual four-day European Balloon Festival, the largest hot air balloon festival in Spain and one of the largest in Europe. The balloon festival is held in July. The town also hosts the Aerosport airshow, which takes place every year in May – think ultralites, gliders and such.
Tarrega in the fertile Ondara valley comes next on the route, about 50 kilometres from Igualada. The popular Fira de Teatre al Carrer, a festival of street theatre, takes place here every September, turning the town into one big stage. Then comes Bellpuig, where it is worth visiting the old convent of St Bartomeu: it was founded at the beginning of the16th century by a nobleman named Ramon de Cardona-Anglesola, who had the grand titles of Baron of Bellpuig and Viceroy of Naples and Sicily. The convent is an exceptional piece of architecture from the time when the style went from Gothic to Renaissance.
Lleida
If you set out early you should reach Lleida in time for lunch. You have arrived in the snail capital of the world. Do you like escargot, or snails? Not sure? Lleida is the place to find out. The town has its own role in Spanish cuisine: grilled goat meat, stews that are called cassoles and casseroles that are called ollies (more confusion) -- and snails.
Different restaurants offer menus of the season based on traditional products, but snails are omnipresent, so much so that Lleida hosts the Aplec del Cargol every year in May, a three-day snail festival at which more than twenty tons of snails are eaten. As a starter they can be cooked on a special grill and served with allioli or mayonaise with garlic. But in Lleida they are also served samfaina (with vegetables) a la gormanta (dipped in flour, salt and pepper then fried) or en cassole (stewed).
LLeida has been subject to many influences over the years, especially that of the Moors. The gardens by the ramparts of the Suda, the old Moorish fortress, offer clear views of the surrounding area. Well worth a visit before continuing your drive. From Lleida get on to the A2 toll road for the final leg to Zaragoza. It’s a good motorway that will get you there in just under a couple of hours.
Arriving in Zaragoza your first impression will be the parking challenge. Free parking in the city centre is scarce. Most streets have parking metres with a one or two hour limit. However, underground paid parking areas are dotted around city and usually have free places.
Just to get your bearings, the Casco Viejo, or the ‘old city’, of Zaragoza, where most of the historic monuments and many of its hotels and restaurants are located, is south of the Río Ebro, its former walls marked by Avenida de César Augusto to the west and El Coso to the south.
Zaragoza is something of a hidden culinary gem, and a ‘must’ when discovering northern Spain’s exciting cuisine. The city is well known for its many tapas bars, and as things don’t liven up until after nine in the evening, you have time to take a little rest before checking out the lively El Tubo tapas district. Call in at the Continental on the Cinco de Marzo for its pumpkin soup with shrimp and a creamy local cheese. Continue on to the nearby Casa Juanico on Calle Santa Cruz, where battered cod is a favourite. La Republicana on Calle Mendez Nunez is known for its huevos rotos, a delicious mixture of fried eggs and potatoes, while Casa Pascualillo on Calle Libertad, has a good repuation for its spicy Guijuelo chorizo sausages.
If you decide on a restaurant rather than the tapas trail, Aragonese cuisine is one of the most straightforward and wholesome cuisines in Spain. Popular local specialties include lamb roasted on the spit, las magras con tomate, (slices of fried local ham dipped in tomato sauce), pollo a la chilindron (chicken in a cured ham sauce), huevos al salmorejo (eggs with asparagus sauce) and bacalao al ajoarriero (cod with garlic and eggs). Nothing sophisticated, but a joy to eat. Zaragozans are fond of fish, which is brought in daily; and there’s also a good selection of local fresh-water fish, trout being one of the local favourites. Leave room a dessert: crystallised fruits covered with chocolate; guirlache, toasted almonds with caramel paste; or the local version of crespillo, tasty fritters made with minty borage leaves.
The Zaragoza region also holds its own when it comes to wine, and is home to three fine wine areas: Carinena, Calatayud and Campo de Borja, all of which produce excellent red and white wines. Borja is said to be the true home of the grenache grape.
Accommodation options: Hotel Goya, Hotel Alfonso, Ibis Zaragoza
Day 2 Depart: Zaragoza O/night: Pamplona Approx: 217 kms
Zaragoza
Start the day with a little more exploration of Zaragoza before driving on to Pamplona. If you are looking for more traditional shopping, head for the city's bustling street markets, such as the ornately built Lanuza Market, where you’ll find an array of inexpensive local produce. On Sundays, bargain hunters flock to the popular flea market, located around the stone arches of the Plaza de Toros de la Misericordia, the local bullring.
Spring (April to mid-June) and autumn (September to October) are the best times to visit Zaragoza. The days can be very hot in late June and July, but the evenings cool down. Remember that in August the city is something of a ghost town, with most people on holiday on the coast or up in the mountains. More than half the bars, restaurants and small shops are closed at that time. Go against the grain and start your journey north to Pamplona as Zaragoza starts to lock its doors and pull down the blinds for the afternoon siesta.
If you take the AP 68 and AP15, both of them toll roads, it’s a journey of some 180 kilometres and a drive of less than two hours. The alternative is the N121: the mileage is the same, but the driving time is closer to three hours. The choice is yours. Driving along the NI21 you’ll pass through the the arid western tip of the Bardenas Reales Natural Park, with flora and fauna that would be more appropriate to an African desert than the north of Spain.
Pamplona, the capital of the Navarre province, is famous around the world for the running of the bulls, part of the annual San Fermín Festival, which is held in July. There are seventy such bull-runs all over Spain (they are likely to diminish in the foreseeable future), but it’s the one in Pamplona that has gained all the fame (or infamy).
The Pamplona festival was given a literary boost many years ago by Ernest Hemingway in his novel, The Sun Also Rises. First published in 1926, it tells of a group of British and American expatriates travelling from Paris to Pamplona to run with the bulls. The book became a best seller – and for Pamplona, the rest is history. If you are planning to visit Pamplona, you should read the book. The city also runs a Hemingway look-alike competition during the San Fermin Festival.
If you happen to be fan of Ernest Hemingway, or just an enthusiast of grand old hotels that ooze with history, you will enjoy a night at the Gran Hotel La Perla, the oldest hotel in Pamplona. It’s where Hemingway spent many of his last years. Other famous guests from the past include Orson Welles and Charlie Chaplin.
La Perla’s refurbishment in recent years has given the old lady a new plush pastelled lease of life. Several of the rooms have retained their early 20th century decor, among them the room from which Hemingway watched the running of the bulls a couple of years before The Sun Also Rises was published. A little trivia; in Hemingway’s novel, La Perla becomes La Montoya. For some reason, room 217, which was his favourite room, is now room 201.
La Perla naturally does well out of its Hemingway connection, though for bullfight aficionados it will be the matador Lola Moreno who springs to mind. A member of the family that owns La Perla, Lola Moreno’s days in the arena are recognised by the stuffed heads of two bulls mounted each side of his portrait in Las Pocholas, the hotel restaurant.
Literary buffs will know that Hemingway preferred to stay at the less expensive Hotel Quintana, but don’t bother to look for it as it no longer exists. Your timetable in Pamplona might include lunch at the Yoldi Hotel (try the fried olives and Manchegan cheese) and post-siesta drinks at the Txoco bar and the art deco Iruna cafe on the Plaza de Castillo --both of them one-time Hemingway hangouts. Don’t ask for absinthe, which was Hemingways tipple at the Iruna -- for health and safety reasons it is now considered too strong to be served legally (perhaps a little ironic in a city where people risk life and limb during the running of the bulls).
Have dinner at Las Pocholas, and then take an evening stroll to the bullring on Paseo de Hemingway to take the almost obligatory photo of ‘Papa’s’ large bronze bust – and you have, as they say, ‘done the Hemingway bit’ – don’t forget to buy the tee-shirt.
If literary connections interest you, it should be mentioned that James Michener also portrayed foreign visitors to Pamplona's San Fermín festival in his novel The Drifters.
Accommodation options. Gran Hotel La Perla, Hotel Yoldi, Iruna Palace Hotel Tres Reyes
Day 3. Depart: Pamplona O/night: San Sebastian Approx: 98 kms
The Palace of Navarra
Before leaving Pamplona, explore a little more of the city. The Palace of Navarra is a ‘must’ with its spectacular Throne Room adorned with marble, velvet, glass, coats of arms, mirrors, chandeliers, candelabras, gilded stucco, vases and other decorative features. There is also an interesting collection of paintings and murals, most of them from the 19th and 20th centuries, dotted around the rooms and corridors of the palace, representing different moments of Navarra's history.
The Cathedral of Royal Saint Mary and its richly sculptured cloister is another 'must'. The so-called Precious Door leads to the ancient canons' dormitory and a magnificent sculptural story of the Virgin Mary's life. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into it.
On the drive to San Sebastian you again have a choice of routes. The A15 autopista that connects Pamplona with San Sebastian is a toll road that will get you there in about an hour, while the N121a toll free and a far more scenic alternative that will take at least two hours, probably more, depending on traffic.
The N121a weaves through the mountainous terrain at times and passes through two or three tunnels carved into the Pyrenees. When you reach Irun, a Spanish frontier crossing with France, (Hendaye is across the border), it’s just a short drive west to San Sebastian.
San Sebastian
San Sebastian is a small city and as such doesn't have many traffic problems -- but take into account that the volume of traffic increases considerably during the summer and at certain other times of the year such Christmas, Easter and public holiday weekends. There are numerous underground car parks in the centre of the city. However, they fill up very easily and it is not uncommon to see queues of cars waiting for a space during busy periods. If you decide to park in a street then you will have to pay and display from 09.00 to 20.00 Monday to Saturday.
San Sebastian overlooks the Cantabrian Sea. This is not its real name: the sea is part of the Atlantic that hits the coast of south-west France and the Basque, Santander and Asturias regions of Spain, and is officially called the Bay of Biscay. The Cantabrian Sea has a much more romantic ring to it, as the folks promoting tourism well know.
What the city lacks in great cultural icons, it makes up for with fantastic beaches. The Concha beach is the largest and most central. It has fine, golden sand and forms an arc covering about two kilometres. It is very good for swimming as it has calm water most of the time. The main shopping streets are off to the right of Concha beach. Ondarreta beach is just to left of Concha and the two are connected by a narrow walkway (which disappears at high tide).
If you have done your homework you will know that the Basque region has a higher ratio of Michelin stars per capita than Paris – there is a trio of three-star restaurants in San Sebastian. If you travelling with a healthy piece of plastic, you will definitely want to eat at one of them.
Arzak has retained its Michelin three-star status since 1985 -- no wonder it’s considered one of the best places to eat in Spain. The restaurant, a roadside tavern owned by the same family for more than a century, is orchestrated by the legendary Juan Mari Arzak, who is now in his sixties and helped by his daughter, Elena, herself a formidable chef who has worked at La Gavroche and El Bulli. Another ‘must’ on your cutting-edge cookery tour is the three-star Akelarre, with chef Pedro Subijana at the helm. Formidable food and wonderful ocean views from high above the Bay of Biscay -- it does not get much better.
Just nine kilometres south-west of San Sebastian, Martín Berasategui’s eponymous eatery also has three Michelin stars and is full of culinary surprizes – such as percebes, or gooseneck barnacles. A funky-looking delicacy with a taste somewhere between squid and oyster, they are only found in certain parts of Spain and Portugal.
Getting reservations at these three restaurants is not easy. Put ‘booking a table’ at the very top of your list when planning your Taste of Spain journey. If you cannot get a dinner reservation, compromise and go for lunch. Arzak, Akelarre and Martín Berasategui offer secure on-line booking facilities.
Tapas, known as pintxos in this part of the world, are popular in San Sebastian -- local foodies argue they are the best in Spain (but they would, wouldn’t they). In the old section of town are a couple of dozen pintxos restaurants. Put them to the test – by the end of this journey you will have joined the tapas cognoscenti.
Before you drive on to Bilbao, you will want to check out the vibrant Parte Vieja (the old quarter), which has more bars than you would care to count, and the Centro Romantic, with its pedestrianised shopping streets, lined with the Art Nouveau buildings. Shopaholics will want to stay an extra day, others could well decide to spend some time chilling out on one of the beaches.
Accommodation options. Hotel Amara Plaza, Hotel Niza, Hotel San Sebastian
Day 4. Depart San Sebastian O/night: Bilbao Approx: 125 kms
Leaving San Sebastian you begin the day with a drive west along the rugged coastline. The N634 takes you to the coastal towns and villages of Zarautz, Getaria, Zumaia and Deba before you swing inland to pick up the A8 for the run to Bilbao -- a morning adventure with many hairpin bends and several tunnels along the way.
Each of the coastal towns and villages has its own character. In Zarautz the Palace of Narros sits alongside the almost three-kilometre beach and is where Spain’s Queen Isabella II and Fabiola of Belgium once spent their summers. The beach is the longest in the Basque region, and one of longest on the stunning Cantabrian cornice.
Zarautz and the other nearby coastal towns and villages are known for a very dry white wine called txakoli (chacoli), which goes very well with fish and is best drunk young and chilled. And if you are in Zarautz on its bustling market day, look out for the local perretxikos, or St George’s mushroom; the golden grail of wild mushrooms – a real delicacy.
Zarautz is the home town of Spain’s larger-than-life celebrity chef, Karlos Arguinano, whose iconic epynomous hotel-restaurant is located right in front of the beach. Arguinano runs two restaurants: one serves the more traditional dishes, while the other offers an innovative, very creative Basque cuisine. The desserts made by his sister, Eva, will make you give up counting calories. Have lunch at Arguinano’s, or one of the many other traditional restaurants, before continuing on.
Good food is a very important part of the Zarautz life-style. One of the town’s biggest attractions is its gastronomy, so you’ll find numerous restaurants here offering both traditional and modern cuisine. Remember that in the summer, the normal population of Zarautz trebles to almost 60,000, so book a table in advance to avoid disappointment.
Getaria
Getaria, just a few kilometres further along the coast, has just over 3,000 inhabitants. A charming fishing village that was once the home of whale hunters, it also has a great beach. If you arrive at lunchtime the aroma of freshly caught sardines on the grill will tempt your taste buds. A walk through this village takes you past medieval houses, the port and a street that leads to the hermitage of San Antón. Another place of great cultural interest is the Gothic church of San Salvador, which dates from the 15th century.
A little celebrity trivia: Getaria was the birthplace of the one time king of haute couture, Cristobal Balenciaga and the mother of the renowned opera singer, Placido Domingo.
Deba
Deba, located on the right bank of an estuary, has a large and attractive beach. If you pass this way in mid-August you will enjoy the festivities of San Roque, the town's patron saint. The celebrations feature Deba’s own running of the bulls, but nobody of Ernest Hemingway’s stature has noticed.
From the small village of Deba to Bilbao, Spain's sixth largest city is a drive of around 70 kilometres: part of the route is on a toll road.
Bilbao stretches along the banks of the Ibaizabal (or Nervion) river, which becomes an estuary as it flows north to the nearby Bay of Biscay. Bilbao has a high volume of traffic due to both its size and shape. Driving in the city centre is quite complicated because of the layout. All the access routes link up with the AP-8, which is also a bypass. You will want to leave the bypass at the Bilbao Oeste exit and head for the city centre, where all the museums, shops, football stadium, the old centre, the Palacio Euskalduna Opera House and several of the bigger hotels are situated.
It is a good idea to locate the Plaza Moyua in the heart of the city to find your way around the centre of Bilbao. Everything is near to this point and you can easily get to the Guggenheim Museum, the main shopping area or the old centre by foot. There are various underground car parks.
It will probably be late afternoon before you arrive at your hotel, time for a rest until you ‘hit the town’. Like all Spanish cities, things don’t really get under way in the evening until quite late – a dinner reservation for around nine thirty in the evening is the norm.
Bilbao is an avant-garde city that has continually reinvented itself over the centuries. It all began back in 1300 when a Castilian nobleman named Don Diego Lopez de Haro, the Lord of Biscay, joined two villages that sat on opposite sides of the river. Wealthy merchants lived on the eastern side, in what is now known as Siete Calles (Seven Streets) and miners who worked the iron ore deposits in the Basque quarries lived with their families on the west bank: an early ‘them and us’ scenario. Fast forward to the last two centuries by which time Bilbao had become the second largest industrialised city in Spain after Barcelona.
Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum.
Nowadays, Bilbao is experiencing an exciting aesthetic revitalization process, triggered by the massive titanium, steel and limestone statue-like building that is the Guggenheim Museum. Built in 1997, it’s the work of American architect, Frank Gehry. The Guggenheim sits on a 32,500 square metre site at the edge of a freight yard in the heart of Bilbao and is visited by a million people a year. The Guggenheim Bilbao's collection spans from the middle of the last century to the present day, concentrating on post-war painting and sculpture in America and Europe.
Foodies will want to eat at the Guggenheim's informal bistro (eat to live) or its more upscale Nerua restaurant (live to eat), where the eight-course degustacion menu includes such items as black olives crushed with sherry, oregano and rhubarb, and steamed radishes dressed with wild herbs. The Nerua is where tapas meet haute cuisine.
A bit of music trivia for Mariah Carey fans: the video for her Sweetheart album with Jermain Dupri was filmed at the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum.
Before you leave Bilbao, make sure you visit the historic Casco Viejo, a picturesque and fully pedestrianised haven of cutting edge boutiques and pintxos bars – you could (and should) spend a whole day exploring the buildings and squares that mostly date back to the16th century. And take the funicular to the top of Artxanda Mountain for a marvellous panoramic view of the city.
Accommodation options. Hotel Ercilla, Hotel Miro, Hotel Melia Bilbao
After Bilbao, you could drive south and tour the Rioja wine region and stay in a spectacular castle. P & O ferries run a twice weekly ferry service between Bilboa and Portsmouth in England.