Viewpoints: Tudela (or, Tudela Turns Me On)

This article was translated by John R. Bopp

Since we started our “Viewpoints” section, our goal has always been to travel through every place within the borders of our nation and talk about it here, as we explained in the entry where we said we were visiting Tudela.  

We get excited when we heard about the Tudela Turns Me On project, especially when we learned about the people behind it.  It seemed like a magnificent way to create a common thread to get to know the city, and that’s why we jumped at the first chance we had to go to Tudela with our minds and camera lenses open.

As we always say, we don’t want to be a tour guide.  We don’t know enough to be one.  We’re just happy showing you some of the amazing things we get to see during one of our getaways, and to try to transmit our experiences.

We have to admit that our visit to Tudela was personally our best one so far.  It’s not easy to explain that “I’m at home” feeling that we got to live.  We felt like we were taken in by our brothers, and we came home stronger, excited, happy, in love with that land, and ready to go back soon.

On this trip, departing from the Basque Coast, we went through the Alava flatlands, covered in snow, through the Urbasa Range, also snow-covered, and through Estella, where we were able to travel through the Bardenas Reales, and finally the city of Tudela.  All of this in just three days/two nights away from home.  This is one of the advantages of having a “grand small country” (the people from Reno will understand).  All we need is a glacier to be able to say we encapsulate the whole world.

This is the first entry in a series wherein we’ll be sharing videos and photos of this trip and what we’ve seen.  We really thought it appropriate to dedicate this entry to this Navarrese Ribera city, as it, along with the Bardenas, was our goal for this trip.

We made our first “get-to-know-you” trip to Tudela with the guides at Tudela Turns Me On (Tudela me pone).  As we said above, this allowed us to get to know the highlights of the historic center along a walk dotted with stories, curiosities, and anecdotes related to love and eroticism.  It was an enjoyable and fun way to be introduced to the history, architecture, and hidden gems of this city. We were lucky, because we got to share the route with the musicians of the Alboraia Musical Society out of Valencia, who were visiting Tudela on an exchange program with the bagpipers of Tudela (Tuterako Gaiteroak).  After the visit, they lit up the streets with their amazing music.  We also got to share the tour with the blogger Nafarrak, who’s already told his tale (in Spanish).

We’ll have to go back, because we just barely scratched the surface of this part of Navarre and of this city. We won’t stop insisting that Tudela is a place that needs to be explored in depth, in addition to being a perfect “base of operations” to get to know this whole region of the Land of the Basques.

There’s a ton to see and enjoy, as you can discover at the following websites:

• Tudela: the official municipal website (in Spanish)
• Tudela: the Navarrese government webiste
• Ribera de Navarra tour guide
• App to get to know la Ribera (including Augmented reality; available for iPhone and Android)
• 19 trails through the Navarrese Ribera

Cuisine is a very important part: the vegetables are simply divine.  We are really fans of peppers and artichokes, and these did not disappoint, especially because they were served as a side dish to some amazing meat.  The Ribera is a place you have to go to expecting to eat well.

We’ll be telling more stories.  But for now, just know we are planning on going back to this part of Navarre.  And we recommend you go, too.  And don’t forget to dedicate some time to Tudela; a truly original way is with Tudela me pone (Tudela Turns Me On).

We’d be remiss if we didn’t finish off this entry with our most sincere thanks to Santi Lorente (the creator of Tudela Me Pone) for his friendship brought forth from his love of our culture, conversation, and good food.  And also to Alfonso Aranda, who made us fall in love with the Bardenas and who dealt with us with infinite patience.  And also to all our friends who took us in these past few days in Tudela.

And special thanks to the Beterri Peña, who we went out with as brothers, and who got us so excited about their work, their commitment, and the level of gastronomic knowledge (we’re sure we’ll be thanking them again in another entry).  We’ll leave you with the video and a small collection of photos we took on our trip.  Tudela, we shall return!