Vitoria, capital of the province of Alava, and capital of autonomous Euskadi (Basque Country)

In February we spent a weekend with Pedro, a Basque student who had been in one of my classes in Reno. He, his mother, and 11-year-old niece introduced us to generous Basque hospitality. Delicious meals, long walks, drives through the wine country -- it was one of the highlights of our trip.	Besides showing us around Vitoria, they drove us to a medieval city in the heart of Basque wine country. LaGuardia is not only beautiful, but has a reputation for producing fine wines, which are aged in large caverns beneath the city. No cars are allowed within the city walls, for fear of collapsing the wine cellars beneath the streets.
The landscape in La Rioja Alavesa (Basque wine country), along the Ebro River, was a stark patchwork of dense vineyards. Unlike the Napa Valley, each grape plant was trimmed low to the ground like a bush, tightly packed in many, many small lots.	Kate and Pedro's niece, Maienne, had matching Gameboys, matching skills at hand games, and by the end of the weekend, matching braids. Not much common language, but plenty of communication.
Pedro's mother, Maria-V, teaches Basque in a preschool classroom. She grew up in the Basque country; Pedro and now her grand-daughter attend the same school she attended as a child (something that appears to be very common here.) She loved our camper van ("stupendo!") and cooked us delicious meals during our stay. She gave me two recipes for chocolate truffles -- one that takes several days, and a "quicker" one that only takes many hours. She and Pedro showed us the sights in downtown Vitoria but because I had given my camera batteries to the two Gameboy players, I have no pictures to share. I'll just say Vitoria is definitely worth a visit -- the plaza, the churches, the parks and streets have a feel of European elegance, on a scale that is very inviting. We loved it. (A note to Joe and Max -- Ice skating is one of Maienne's favorite activites! This is Kate and Maienne at the local rink)

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Donica Mensing
dmensing@unr.edu
Last updated May 1, 2002