Haro, La Rioja

I am spending the night at the Los Agustinos Hotel in Haro, in La Rioja Country. http://www.hotellosagustinos.com. We checked in around 7pm having driven around the beautiful old town centre three times. It reminds me of Sicily, with its heat, noisy bars and restaurants, the inhabitants strolling around the squares, the narrow streets, with bedsheets flying overhead. The hotel is beautifully styled with wooden panelling and the atrium and cloisters are well impressive. Dave and I, in removal men attire, were rather underdressed for the classic elegance of the hotel´s restaurant, so we headed out to the main square and eventually found a bar/restaurant that was willing to serve us dinner at the unfashionably early time of 8 o´clock. “You would like to eat dinner, now¿¿¿” Anyway it was excellent Russian Salad, Basque Style, and then Steak, then local cheese, washed down with house Rioja. Tomorrow we will hit a couple of bodegas, fill up the van and head for the port.