[Gocamino] Article on La Rioja in Sunday New York Times

[Eldor Pederson]

Pilgrims or potential pilgrims who are foodies and oenophiles may find an article in the Sunday 28 August New York Times Travel Section of interest:  Wright, Christian L. "The Napa-fication of an Ancient Spanish Wine Region." The article is datelined Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and it discusses several other places along or near the Camino Francés, but there is only a brief reference to the pilgrimage. It does list some high end places to stay and to eat, in the unlikely case that luxury consumption along the route is a pilgrim's goal.

I have to admit that I find the conversion of La Rioja into a European clone of the Napa Valley a less than appealing prospect. Years ago, when I was a student in the Bay Area,  the Napa Valley was a laid back agricultural region with some unpretentious wineries staffed by friendly people and located near inexpensive lodgings and restaurants, in short a pleasant place for impecunious college students to make a weekend trip. Now it is a frenetic "food and wine pilgrimage" destination for high-end consumers (and for those who enjoy gawking at them) with seemingly endless heavy traffic on even its least important roads. Its hotels and restaurants are increasingly of the kind one would expect in a luxury resort operated by the Starwood chain with prices to match. La Rioja today resembles Napa of 30 years ago, and I do not relish the thought of it becoming a focus of luxury consumerism. It would be a cruel irony indeed if a place like Santo Domingo de la Calzada, named for a man whose goal was to ease the way of pilgrims, should become a European version of St. Helena, a place entirely too expensive for a typical pilgrim to afford stopping if the refugios are full.