I had some early birthday messages from friends in Australia, including one from Matthew. Audrey also sent a nice message. We went for our quirky breakfast which was slightly different today. Then we set off to drive to Pamplona, the capital of Navarra. We found a parking space in an underground car park and headed for the town centre, where there was a political rally taking place in Plaza San Francesco. The mood seemed to be celebratory. We found the tourist office and picked up a map, before heading to the Cathedral.Inside it was very ornate with tall pillars down the nave and the side aisles, and there was a lot of gold. After exploring the main building we went to discover the cloisters, but they were partly blocked by building work. In the Barbazona Chapel we saw a beautiful stained glass window; we also entered the refectory, and the museum of archaeology.
After seeing the cathedral, we walked up to the old city walls. The streets were crowded with revellers. Maybe they were celebrating the ousting of their Prime Minister two days ago. We managed eventually to find seats in a bar where we had a cold beer and tortilla de bacalao, which was very tasty.
On our way back to the car we saw the famous bullring from the outside, close to the streets where the Running of the Bulls is held in July. We saw a statue dedicated to Hemingway, author of Death in the Afternoon.
Our tasting meal at Marquez de Riscal, 2 June 2018
Back at the hotel we rested and got changed before our special dinner with a tasting menu of 14 courses plus wines. Our host Javier checked any allergies and I mentioned I preferred to avoid prawns and lobster, so he passed the word onto the kitchen.
We started with a glass of Cava and went into the kitchen to try black 'olives' made from cheese, a
glass of berry juice, a tiny sandwich and some 'churros' with paprika, plus croquetas with green meadow 'flowers', a leaf foam, cones and dry ice with mushroom and apple - all very tiny tastes.
Then at our table we were served with a glass of Finca Montico white Rueda and I had a carpaccio made from tomato with cream and pink caviar. The wine was very dry and mineraly. Then onto the green asparagus with mayonnaise and imperial caviar. The next course was a piece of courgette with a trout and almond sauce and orange caviar.
Then another white wine, this time a Marques de Riscal Limousin 2016 Rueda, which was slightly darker and more bland than the previous wine. It accompanied a pork ear with artichoke (or lobster for Richard) with a green sauce with coriander. This was followed by oyster with almond sauce.
We moved onto red wine with a Finca Torrea 2015 local Tempranillo, still rather young.We had hake throat with foam which was spicy. This was followed by roasted hake with brown pepper soup. The fish was slightly undercooked, I thought.
Another red wine then, a Baron de Chirel 2014 Tempranillo/ Cabernet Sauvignon blend, 12 months in the barrel with more tannin. Following this, we had a sweet pork ravioli with squid balls which wasn't as nice as some other courses. We moved onto a roasted squab with Grand Reserva wine tastes which was quite nice.
Then the cheese trolley came out and Javier described all the cheeses, too many to remember. We chose five between us, with quince cubes that I wasn't keen on. Then we were served a pre-dessert of peach ice cream with cinnamon and red wine. We also tasted a Moscatel sweet wine from eastern Rioja, which was served chilled.
After that, we enjoyed a white chocolate and goats cheese dessert, and then a dark chocolate and crunchy pepper (a bit too much pepper) and a salty wafer. Our waitress Christine was very attentive.
Unfortunately I had an upset stomach during the night! Probably served me right.
