Trevor Huxham

Fall landscapes in rural Rioja When traveling, some people seek out the best beaches or tranquil getaways, while others (the so-called “foodies”) research their destination’s tastiest dishes and the best places to eat them at. For me at least, I plan a lot of my trips around UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as I’m a big fan of historical sites and national parks. This program, associated with the UN since 1972, has recognized some of the planet’s most significant cultural and natural monuments. Spain has 44 such sites, making the country home to the third-highest concentration of Patrimonio de la Humanidad in the world. Vaulted cloisters in Yuso During my weekend trip out east to Logroño to visit my friend Mike in December, I got the chance to explore the Spanish region of La Rioja’s sole World Heritage Site: the Suso and Yuso Monasteries, out in the village of San Millán de la Cogolla. Although little known outside of this small province, these two monasteries are a great p...

Logroño Cathedral One of my favorite things about keeping up a travel blog is all the connections I’ve been able to make with it, be it meeting up with fellow bloggers while traveling, giving advice to followers via email or comments, or simply making new friends based on shared common interests. Case in point: I would have never made any effort to go out east to La Rioja had it not been for the community I’ve gotten plugged into in the Spain expat/travel blogosphere. Tree-like columns inside the cathedral When I first applied to teach English in Spain way back in 2011, I closely followed Liz Carlson’s Young Adventuress  blog, as she was working that year as an auxiliar de conversación  in Logroño, the capital of the Rioja region. She raved and raved about this under-appreciated region, its fabulous pinchos , and, of course, its namesake wine. Although she put Logroño on my travel radar, the city never really moved into my “essential visits” list. Fast-forward ...