HONEST, STRAIGHT-FORWARD, GOURMET.
The cuisine of northern Spain ranks amongst some of the most sophisticated in Europe. And like on every Beyond biking trip, each day, you’ll be treated to a delicious local meal. In the medieval towns of Ainsa (Aragón) and Hondarribia (the Basque Coast), you will be treated to the culinary delights of gastronomic restaurants. Apart from that, your hosts will serve the best traditional, local dishes, offering a totally different experience to the usual tourist fare.
A landlocked and strongly agricultural region, Aragón is famous for one of the most straight-forward cooking styles in all of Spain, one that relies on fine meat, especially lamb and pork, in all its manifestations. You’ll have the opportunity to taste most Aragón classics like ternasco (roast lamb), and the famous Pollo al Chilindrón – braised chicken with tomatoes and peppers. It’s not all meat though. Plenty of ingredients grow wild in the Aragón countryside, such as black truffles, wild mushrooms, sweet onions and asparagus. These ingredients are all used regularly in local cooking where quality produce and simple methods result in outstanding flavours. The mighty Ebro River passes through Huesca. It’s no surprise, then, that trout caught from the region’s rivers is a typical dish. Furthermore Aragón is home to a number of fine cheeses, including the most notable, tronchón, cited in Don Quixote not once, but twice, for its quality. Try it with a local wine from Somontano (Huesca) or Calatayud.
Basque cuisine is considered some of the best in the world. However, traditional Basque cooking is not elite or complex; rather, its relative simplicity belies exquisite flavours and textures. The strength of Basque cuisine lies in the inseparable concept of cooking ‘el punto’ – that is, to the point when the food is ‘just right’. The majority of traditional dishes are prepared using excellent local products. Basque cuisine benefits from the fruits of the sea in one direction, and the meats and vegetables of the Ebro valley in the other. You’ll be able to try Bacalao al Ajoarriero, which is salt cod flavoured with garlic, parsley and dried red peppers. Other classics on our menu include seafood casseroles such as marmitaco and zurrukutuna, which can be washed down with a glass of delicious local wine. The Rioja Denomination of Origin lies to the south of the interior province of Álava, giving rise to a sub-zone called Rioja Alavesa where some of the oldest Rioja bodegas are found.
Make sure you leave room for some pintxos (Basque tapas), too. Our guides know their way around the fabulous pinxto bars just as well as they knows the trails. And if you don’t want to leave the Basque Country without trying out one of the top Michelin-starred restaurants in Bilbao or San Sebastián, you will have the opportunity to do so on your last night. But please note, this is the only dinner not typically included in the price of the trip.
