Parador de Santo Domingo (a/k/a a castle turned into a hotel)...

Yesterday we went to Dinastia Vivanco, which is a winery in Briones, Spain. We took a tour of the vineyards, the winery, and the Museo de la Cultra del Vino (a museum). The sheer volume of wine that is made at Dinastia Vivanco was overwhelming! Even though the guided tour, of the winery, was in Spanish, we learned some interesting facts and enjoyed sampling some exquiste wines :)









I will let Sean tell you more about the winery, since he is the wine expert on this trip.

After the winery, we drove to Parador de Santo Domingo, which is a castle that was turned into a hotel (we are referring to it as a palace... since that is what it looks like). It is amazing that in less than 24 hours we went from staying at Guillermina´s to staying at a palace!!!







Today we are heading towards Picos de Europa, which is one of the best national parks in Spain! We are not sure if we are going to spend one day or two days hiking, but we are all very excited about this leg of the trip. Since this is tourist season at the park, we tried to call ahead to reserve a room for tonight and we are fairly certain we are going to be able to stay at the house of a pleasant British couple :) We considered staying in a shepherd´s hut, but it appears that we would have had to reserve a hut in advance.

Once again, we are not exactly sure where we are going to be staying today, but we are looking forward to the adventure that lies ahead!!