There's a bar in Logroño's Calle Laurel that specialises in criadillas - fluffy meatballs, deep-fried in a light batter and served with a garlic and tomato sauce. When I say meatballs, I mean it in the most literal way, for criadillas are bull's testicles. Still, if that's not to your taste, there's always the Bar Soriano next door. It serves nothing but mushrooms; grilled, dripping with garlic and delicious.
That's the great thing about the tapas bars in Logroño. If you don't like what's served in one, you can always try the one next door. Or the one next to that. In fact, along the narrow, pedes trianised Calle Laurel in the town's old quarter, it's literally wall-to-wall tapas bars. Most specialise in one particular dish, such as the Soriano.
Along the main street there's everything on offer, from cured ham and pork chops to stuffed peppers and grilled aubergines, from Spanish omelettes to spicy mussels, and a local night out is something my Spanish friend Patricia calls chiquiteo , or "tapas-hopping" - a bar-crawl with food thrown in.
The tapas bars in Calle Laurel don't necessarily serve the best dishes in Logroño. For that, you need to look further afield, such as the Bar Tahiti in Avenida Republica Argentina, whose Spanish omelette was recently judged fourth best in Spain. What they have in spades is atmosphere - at 10pm on a Friday or Saturday night, the whole street is bursting with people, noise and garlicky aromas. The crowd is made up of revellers of all ages. There are constant shrieks and laughter as people bump into their friends. We begin as a threesome and end up with about a dozen of Patricia's friends - although after my 10th glass of wine it became increasingly difficult to work out exactly who was in our group.
Logroño is the capital of La Rioja, situated in northern Spain where the Castilian centre meets the Basque country. An hour and a half's drive south of Bilbao, the region is virtually unknown to British tourists. Guidebooks give it the most cursory of mentions, or often none at all. Admittedly, it lacks the celebrated history of, say, Toledo or Seville, or the buzz of Barcelona, but, if you want to explore an authentic slice of rural Spain, this is the place for you.
Not that the region is short of history. Logroño itself was devastated by El Cid in 1092, and the province is rich in monasteries, churches, castles and medieval walled towns.
However for me, the real treasures of La Rioja are the sierras. True, this isn't the Pyrenees, and the hills are more rolling than alpine, but it is high enough - over 2,000m in places - to have its own ski resort, at Valdezcaray near Ezcaray. There are lovely walks through mountain woodland, cycle rides along forest tracks and days to be spent exploring remote mountain villages. The day after our tapas hopping, we headed to one such village, Villoslada de Cameros, where Patricia's family owns a house.
Wool made Villoslada one of the richest villages in Europe before Australian imports flooded the market in the 1800s. In the 20th century, the inhabitants of Villoslada and other nearby villages abandoned the countryside for the cities. The rural exodus reached such a level that one village was left with only two inhabitants - a brother and sister who apparently didn't talk to each other.
Recently, though, the children of those who moved away started renovating the crumbling stone houses for use as summer homes. A fledgling tourist industry has developed, catering mainly to Spanish city-dwellers in search of fresh air and rural ambience.
La Rioja has much the same appeal as, say, Tuscany or inland Provence: sun, rolling hills, great food and wine, but it is not overrun with middle-class Brits. So at the moment you can have La Rioja's vineyards, forests and villages virtually to yourself. And as many bull's testicles as you can eat.
What to eat and where to find it
The word tapas literally means lid and derives from an old custom of serving wine in jugs topped with a piece of food that formed an edible lid. Tapas comes in four basic forms. The smallest and cheapest are nibbles such as stuffed olives or shrimps, eaten with your fingers. Pinchos are a little more substantial such as garlic mushrooms or grilled meat kebabs, served on skewers. Cazuelas are mini-stews such as patatas bravas (spicy potatoes) served in small clay dishes. Finally there are bocadillos - sandwiches - although most tapas come with a chunk of bread to soak up the oil and garlic.
House specialities are advertised on boards or incorporated in the name of the bar (El Jamonero, for instance). Alternatively, watch what the other customers order.
Rioja's cuisine is characterised by abundant fruit and vegetables (asparagus, artichokes, red peppers, peaches, pears) and meat - particularly pork in various forms, from chorizo and jamon de serrano (like Parma ham) to grilled chops and stews.
Regional specialities include cabrito (grilled baby goat), pimientos rellenos (grilled stuffed peppers), pochas (white bean stew), caparrones (another bean stew with chorizo) and fardelejos (pastry parcels with an almond-paste filling). As you might expect, olive oil, garlic and tomatoes feature prominently.
Wines are mainly red and range from the standard origen calificada to the superior crianza, reserva and gran reserva levels. Gran reserva (aged for two years in oak casks and three years in the bottle for reds, four in total for whites) is tops, although we're talking up to £30 or £40 a bottle. The outstanding recent vintages were 1994 and 1995.
One of La Rioja's best restaurants is the Hotel Echaurren (2 Héroes del Alcázar, 941 35 40 47), in Ezcaray. Plaza 6 in Fuenmayor (lunchtime only) is recommended for its menestra, a local vegetable stew. Other good restaurants include Meson Beethoven (Calle Santo Tomas) and Terefe (17 Lucrecia Arana) in Haro, and Sopitas in Arnedo. In Logroño, try Avenida 21 (21 Avenida de Portugal) and La Chatilla de San Augustin (6 Calle San Augustin), or En Ascus (22 Hermanos Moroy), which specialises in mixed pork grills.
Whether it's tapas or a restaurant, remember that the locals rarely eat before 9pm.
The practicals
Iberia (0845 6012854) flies London Heathrow to Bilbao from £100 return. P&O Portsmouth (02392 301000, www.poportsmouth.com) sails twice a week to Bilbao from Southampton. A five-day supersaver for a car and up to nine passengers costs from £99. Logroño is 90 minutes' by car from Bilbao on the A68 autopista. Logroño tourist office: Paseo del Espolon, 941 29 12 60 (www.larioja.com).
