By Kate McWilliams
Gastronomic tour company San Sebastián Food has revamped their successful ‘Discover The Basque Country’ experience, which offers sublime behind-the-scenes access to Basque cuisine and culture, led by Basque cultural specialist and author of ‘The Basque Country’ Paddy Woodworth and owner of San Sebastián Food Jon Warren.
This year’s tour takes place from 5th to 9th July and now includes a journey deep into the foothills of the Pyrenees to explore a number of remote Basque villages on both sides of the French-Spanish border, as well as a dinner at one …

By Rupert Parker
To celebrate the start of the grape harvest, Logroño, the capital of La Rioja, hosts a week long street festival involving music, parades, bull fighting, balloon flights, and, of course, drinking.
For most people Rioja is the name of a strong Spanish red wine, but it’s actually the region where the wine is produced.  As you’d expect the vineyards stretch for miles, dotted by small hilltop villages but the landscape is surprisingly varied and the mountains in the West top over 2200 metres.
It’s late September and I’m in Logroño, …

By Rupert Parker
Madrid is said to have the greatest number of bars and restaurants per capita of any city in the world. Not for nothing are Madrileños known as “Gatos”, or cats, based on the fact they hardly sleep. Finishing work at 9, they make for the nearest Tapas bar, where they have a drink and a snack, and then move on to the next.  They keep going until around 11pm, when they stop for dinner, then it’s off to a disco, flamenco club, or bar. That’s the story anyway, …