We´re in the wine capital of Argentina......!!!
Trip Start
Apr 30, 2011
1
4
66
Trip End
Dec 08, 2011
Where I stayed
What I did
Wine, wine, wine
Mendoza, Argentina
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Off we set to Mendoza. A mere 14 hour coach journey! We left Buenos Aires at about 7.30 pm, and reached the sun soaked, vineyard laden city of Mendoza at 10.15 the next day.
The coaches here are surprisingly luxurious. And we´re still trying to get our heads around the fact you can catch a coach to almost anywhere in South America!
We found our hostel through hostelworld and booked it because most of the reviews had nothing bad to say. Always a good sign! It´s very laid back here, great kitchen facilities, and they let you do your washing for free too! And, you get a free glass of wine every day! We´re staying in a shared dorm at the moment(more on that later!), and moving to our own room for the next couple of nights.
We arrived at our hostel to come face to face with Rachel and Dom, the couple who we had shared a dorm with for a couple of nights in Buenos Aires. And not only that, they had decided to stay on an extra day, so had to move out of their dorm into another. Ours!! What a small world! Before we had even put our backpacks down, Dom and Rachel invited us on a wine tour, which we had read about in our book and had every intention of doing. Just not after a 14 hour coach journey and minimal sleep! However, this wasn´t going to stop us, so off we went!
We took a bus to a place called Maipu, where we hired bicycles for the day. They give you a map of all local vineyards and ´bodegas´, and of course... more free wine, then off you go!! There were eight of us out on the bikes together, including another couple from Bristol. The first vineyard was about a 45 minute cycle across a really bumpy dusty road. By the time we got there we were all pretty thirsty! We each paid about three pounds and got to sample 4 wines produced by this particular vineyard. They told us about each wine, and how to drink them to get the maximum flavour. She showed us a bottle of red that they only produced around 4000 bottles of. This was their most expensive too, but we weren´t allowed to sample it for those very reasons. So, Dom brings up the idea of everyone chipping in to buy the bottle so we could try it. This idea was well received! It was well worth it as the wine was delicious. On to the next vineyard! Around another 20 minutes on the bike and we reached the next one. Here they gave us a free talk about the history of the wines they produce, and then we paid to choose a selection of the wines to drink, from whites, reds and champagne that were on offer. A number of glasses down and we were on to our next destination.
Just across the road was a vineyard that meant serious business! They were the Guinness Factory equivalent of vineyards! A very modern building with a gorgeous rooftop terrace restaurant where we stopped to line our stomach´s with some much needed food! By now some of the group were a little wobbly on their bikes! We all decided Maipu makes the perfect retirement location. Spending our days cycling from vineyard to vineyard!
Last stop was a beer garden, just for a change! We sat outside, watching the sun go down. We had slightly lost track of time by this point! Our bikes had to be back by 7pm, but we were still enjoying our final drinks come 7.10pm! We attempted a quick cycle back (easier said than done, some of us were very wobbly at this point!) We even ended up with a police motorcycle escort back to the hire place. They must be used to drunk tourists on bikes trying to find their way back!!
Back at the hire place and grateful to be there in one piece, we were greeted with more free wine! We stayed in Maipu into the evening and eventually caught the bus back to Mendoza at about 11pm.
It was a brilliant, fun, wine-filled day. But after being up for the best part of forty hours and feeling a little sleepy, we were pleased to get back to the hostel and to bed!
Bikes and alcohol are a great but potentially dangerous mix. And we have very sore heads and bottoms today!!
Blondie & Beardy. xxx
