La Rioja is most noteworthy for producing the wines of the same name - with certain famous exceptions, the best wine made in Spain. But this small region tucked away between Old Castile and the Basque Country, sheltered by the Sierra de Cantabria to the north and the Sierra de la Demanda to the south, has more to offer the visitor than you might expect. We went to find the Oja, the river which gives it its name.
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More of this Feature Coming Soon: • Santo Domingo     de la Calzada • Haro  Related Resources • Rioja Wine  Elsewhere on the Web • Ezcaray Town Council • RiojaInternet   Ezcaray is a small, splendidly conserved mediaeval-to-renaissance town on the lower slopes of the Sierra de la Demanda, which straddles the provinces of Burgos and La Rioja. In the past, Ezcaray was an important textile centre, though this is not evident now. Its present popularity and prosperity derive from the ski resort of Valdezcaray, higher up in the Sierra, and weekend tourism. The latter is is very much a local affair, families from the Basque Country out for a day in the country, hunters from Burgos after partridge and quail and anglers from I do not know where. Ezcaray is far off the normal tourist trail.  Ezcaray has a number of sights - the church of Santa María la Mayor, a number of eighteenth-century palaces, a couple of lovely hermitages - but the real pleasure of the place is meandering through its streets and plazas and under its arcades, stopping for a glass of wine, strolling to another place, another glass of wine... It was in one of these taverns that we were told the secret of zurracapote (which literally means head-banger), a local drink made especially for consumption during Easter (they said, though we suspect it would be suitable for any festivity). Zurracopote is a kind of rosé wine (clarete, interestingly considered a hard-man's drink in the north of Spain), in which slices of orange and lemon are placed and to which cinnamon is added. It is left to macerate for up to a fortnight, then strained and served at room temperature. Click thumbnails to enlarge  The River Oja probably swells greatly with the spring thaw, but when we saw it at the beginning of May, it was far from prepossessing, trickling in rather ill-defined manner on its way down to meet the River Tirón, which then empties immediately into the mighty Ebro. From Ezcaray, we followed the Oja down the road as far as Santo Domingo de la Calzada.  All photographs and images ©2001 John Ross. All rights reserved. Coming Soon > Santo Domingo de la Calzada >