A Logroño not to get fat
What we are going to talk about here is the other Logroño, the one that is far from the shouting of the Laurel and the wines , the one that escapes from the bachelor parties that storm this city every weekend (for which the locals feel love and hate in equal parts because they are scandalous but leave money in bars and hotels) .
1) Church of San Bartolomé
The historic center is dotted with several posh churches and the imposing co-cathedral of Santa María de La Redonda (here they call it “La Redonda”), which hides a Michelangelo behind the main altar . Of all of them, the smallest, oldest, austere and least visited is the Church of San Bartolomé (Plaza de San Bartolomé, 2). This building, which began to be built in the 12th century, with Romanesque, Gothic and Mudejar overtones, has an impressive tympanum on its façade, but the best is inside. Go inside and you'll be teleported to the humble Nottingham church of Friar Tuck from Disney's Robin Hood.
The church of Saint Bartholomew
2) Arcades
Strolling through the arcades seems to be the favorite sport of the people of Logroño, especially at the time of vermouth and late afternoon . It makes sense if we take into account that the rain is an inseparable companion of this city (it and the wind, which few balcony pinwheels survive). His favorite streets are Portales and Gran Vía (with the real name of Avenida Gran Vía Rey Juan Carlos I). If you join their walks you will see two things: in Logroño there are many baby carriages and wheelchairs with hyper-warm elderly people, with blankets, scarves and gloves (no hat).
3)Wurth Museum
Being more papist than the Pope, we could not include the ** Würth Museum ** (Avenida Cameros, 86-88, Polígono El Sequero) on this list because it is located in the industrial estate of Agoncillo, a tiny dormitory town 18 kilometers from Logrono. But the rules are there to break them, as it would be unfair to leave it out when it is one of the few cultural centers with a halo of modernity in the area. "And why the hell have they put it in a polygon?", you may ask. Well, because it belongs to the German businessman Reinhold Würth (the one with the screws, yes). In some of its European headquarters, Würth has built large museums of contemporary art next to its factories, to try to merge culture and business in the same space. In addition to suggestive temporary exhibitions, its children's activities stand out , which bring artistic practices closer to the little ones, and others for adults, such as the Las Cavernas de Plato film series, which ends this week.
The Würth Museum: exhibitions, cinema and children's activities
4)Murac
If you are a treasure finder (I hope you find what you want on Google), you have a challenge in Logroño: find the Museo Riojano de Arte Contemporáneo (MuRAC). A hint: rather than looking for buildings, you will have to look for yellow stickers stuck everywhere. The MuRAC has no physical headquarters and flees from the elitism of contemporary art . It is a group that, according to themselves, aims to be "a creator of cultural life and mostly of public life, by proposing artistic policies where citizen participation and enjoyment of the daily environment contrast with the tourist and economic concerns of other entities dedicated to art. ”. Well that. Contemporary art but with a big asterisk.
5)The Ebro and its bridges
Thanks to the rains of the last few weeks, the Ebro is of an insolent that falls in love . You cannot go to Logroño without approaching it or two of its bridges: the Hierro bridge (Sagasta street leads into it) and the Piedra bridge (next to the Hospital de La Rioja). Lean on any of them, as if you were on the Pont Neuf, and contemplate it , listen with what force it comes from the North of Cantabria and how it caresses the city in its path. According to what they say, it is the mightiest river in Spain, so it deserves our admiration (and more).
Logroño as in the Pont Neuf
6)Science House
On the other side of the river, right on the shore, we find the Casa de las Ciencias (Avenida del Ebro, 1). This cute pink building was the old Municipal Slaughterhouse of the city, built at the beginning of the 20th century in an industrial style. Although you are of letters and you science, plin (despite the fact that you surely read what the Higgs boson thing was a few months ago), come to this place because the building is worth a lot . In addition, in their garden they have didactic gadgets (nooks and crannies that echo (echo), musical instruments to play with hands and feet and things like that) for children of all ages to play with, with which you can have a laugh.
The House of Sciences: you have to go even if you are of letters
7) Breton Theater of the Blacksmiths
If you have time, stop by Bretón (Bretón de los Herreros, 11), the city's theater. It is a sweetened building from the end of the 19th century that has undergone numerous renovations and that benefits from its night lighting. Whatever is on the bill (theater, dance and other shows that rotate through the Spanish provinces), pay the ticket and look at the number of older ladies there, dressed in their best clothes, as if they were going to Sunday mass in Round. They don't seem to care in the least what they're seeing. In fact, if you go to see a "modern" play, you will hear comments at the end such as: "This today hasn't said much to me" or “She was very pretty but she was not understood at all”.
8) Film Library of La Rioja Rafael Azcona
If you go to Logroño on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, you will be very lucky because you will be able to enjoy the Film Library of La Rioja Rafael Azcona , which only shows films on the nights of those two days in the Sala Gonzalo de Berceo (Calvo Sotelo, 11). The rest of the time, if you are a VOS lover, you will have to be very attentive to the programming of the Modern Cinemas (which have little of that), since very occasionally they do cycles in the original version. El Breton, sporadically, shakes off his provincialism and puts on films of this type.
9)CNT Theater
This ramshackle and decaying building (Bathrooms, 3) you will not find it in almost any guide . In fact, I know that many Logroñeses (the youngest) are unaware of its existence. It is a historical theater of the CNT union built in 1931 that has suffered many jolts in these eighty years : It has been a cinema, a space for political gatherings, a dance and theater school and a cooperative. Now and then from time to time hosts rock concerts and committed singer-songwriters , under the umbrella of the union. The MuRAC is also one of its regular inhabitants, as it often organizes events within its tired walls.
10) The ESDIR building
One of the most beautiful buildings in Logroño is, without a doubt, that of the Superior School of Design of La Rioja (ESDIR) (Avenida de la Paz, 9). It may remind you of the one in La Casa Encendida (or maybe that only happens to me). It is a construction from the beginning of the 20th century with an eclectic style, with a cloistered floor plan typology and where architecture and the decorative arts go hand in hand, as it could not be otherwise being the headquarters of the ESDIR. Since it was born, the building has been an arts school, linked in its beginnings to craft teaching.
11) Markets
Every big city has a market on Sunday mornings and Logroño, in the absence of one, has two. The largest is on the other side of the Ebro (Paseo de Las Norias). People here kill to buy fruit, footwear and variants at their stalls, although the lingerie stalls, with six panties for five euros, aren't exactly empty either. The second market, smaller, is more central (Plaza del Mercado). In theory it is a flea market antiques and collectibles although in it you can find varied gossip, such as lipsticked mannequins, chewed-up pipes, porcelain figurines, French coins, gilded nail clippers or Los Chunguitos cassette tapes.
Image of Logroño with the Cathedral in the background