Flight was cancelled!

Saturday 28 Nov 09

Our flight to Frankfurt from Bilbao was cancelled!! We were happily sitting in the business class lounge sipping on cava and thinking what a nice life this is and we were told 1/2 hour before boarding that the flight was cancelled. Not delayed - CANCELLED. This is Lufthansa, a German company for god's sake.

Rushed to the ticket counter and there was this bitch who gave double standards to asians. Made us go to the end of the line coz it was so messy and we were in the 'wrong' queue, even though we got there first and are on bloody business class.

Waited a good hour in line. Damn inefficient bitch. Finally a nicer lady helped us out. We were the last to get served. The rest were panicking coz they had connecting flights and business meetings back in KL & Singapore. But it turned to be much better for me. I managed to change my flight direct to Munich (although I burned my train ticket but who cares for the 7 1/2 hour ride anyways) and get to fly back to KL from Munich too!! Double hip hooray!!

Lufthansa was nice enough to put us up in this lovely 5 star Hotel Indautxu in Bilbao. Dinner was even provided for and since we are business class passengers, we get our own individual rooms. Saw the passenger list and some had double & even triple sharing.

Dinner at Hotel Indautxu

But before the airport fiasco, we walked the streets of Logrono for the last time to visit some markets to buy meat. Spain is filled with pork. Think the are obsessed with it. Check out what they had at the markets. I couldn't buy much meat as I didn't want to lug it around Germany for 2 weeks but I bought a few flat packs back. Iberico ham is Euro 69 a kg! Thank god we bought it at the factory for a wholesale price of E25 a kg.

Pigs, pigs and more pigs

Visited a nice cathedral to thank whoever is up there for what i've been given. Saw capoeira in the streets by little kids too. They were good!

Cathedral in Logrono

Had to visit the tapas bars again before we left and I just love the mushrooms. Heaven.

Most orgasmic experience ever!

Wednesday 26 Nov 09

Reached Logrono today, the capital of La Rioja region (pronounced La Rioha). Nothing great about the city. Very industrial like. Managed to find MNG but it was all winter clothing so ended up not buying anything. Can't find my magnet shop again. Damn.

Industrial looking city of Logrono

All's not lost as La Rioja is very much known for their red wines. The region is more uniform in their climate and soil, thus producing more uniform wines as well.

Our itinerary for the evening was a visit to Bodegas Muga, one of the finest wineries in La Rioja. It's a family owned business established in 1932. It's run by the 3rd gen now and owner Juan Muga was kind enough to bring us for a tour of the place.

The place, set in a 200+ year old stone house is simply awesome!! The first thing that greets you is the rows of oak barrrels. I was simply awed to be in the winery. Juan took us to the fermentation, maturing, bottling and aging process. They produce their own barrels! He spoke a bit too fast and his English was not that good. A pity really as I was really interested in the process.

They produce 50% for the local market and the rest are exported to various countries around the world, Malaysia included. Their distributor for us & Singapore is Cellermasters Wines. 80% of their wine are red, 10% white (mostly for exports), 7% rose and 3% is sparkling or cava.

Muga Winery factory

Juan and his wines, producing their own barrels, a 1968 harvest! and M'sia distributors

After the tour he took us to this lovely dining room complete with a fire place. I was still in esctacy and had that goofy grin plastered still. It was just so surreal to be here. We had an awesome 3 course dinner paired with 7 different types of wine! I'm not a red wine person but their reds were really easy to drink. The last red, Aro 2005, cost E120 a bottle! We had cava for the last round. Heaven.

The gorgeous dining room

Our food & wine

Cava, Spanish sparkling wine

Took some pics around the place before we left and I had to get a pic with Juan. I'm in love with Spanish wines. The winery was the best part of the trip so far. Extremely orgasmic. I can't describe the feling. It's just magical. I still have the silly grin. It's gonna be sweet wine dreams tonight.

Pics with Juan at winery facade