My final blog about Argentina takes us to Mendoza, if you like wine, something that should be on your to do list when visiting this great country!
During my whole trip in Argentina i was impressed by the local wines, especially the Malbec grape seems to do very well on Argentina soil. I was traveling alone but couldn't resist ordering a bottle with every dinner i had ( traveling isnt good for my liver especially when im alone and have to finish those bottles all by myself!)
One of the best places to visit wine farms is the Mendoza area. Almost two-thirds of the country's entire wine production comes from this province.
Located in the eastern foothills of the Andes, in the shadow of Mount Aconcagua, vineyards are planted at some of the highest altitudes in the world, 600–1,100 meters above sea level!
Most of the time i dont really join local tours with other tourists, i normally ask local people and 9/10 times they can tell me even more then a tourist guide can and if im Lucky they show me around themselves or help me on my way.
This time i met a fellow Dutchie and he said it would be fun doing this with a group and i agreed with him. Drinking wine is more fun with a bunch!
We booked a cycle tour, visiting a couple of farms, Dutch people and bicycles, you probably all know we grow up with them and since The Netherlands is so flat we all ride them to school, work or whatsoever!
Driving a bicycle drunk is one of our specialties, as a student living in Amsterdam thats almost a daily routine and ones you learned, you never forget but not everybody on our group was Dutch so that became a little tricky on the way back home :-)
No major injuries or casualties but a lot of fun and near accidents haha.
First up was this family business, a well organised farm with ofcourze lots of Malbec but also other grapes like Criolla Grande, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Ofcourse, it was wine tasting, there was a bucket to spit it out after tasting but for me that wasnt an option, that would be a waste of great wine!
On our way to the second farm i felt already lucky that i didnt have to do anything the next day, compared to european tastings the glasses were filled a lot more and they didnt mind if you asked for another.
Its a nice area for a bike ride, the fields full of grapes are beautiful and never ending.
Some wines were made in more modern tanks but some were maturing on oak barrels for some extra bite, mostly the Chardonnay. One of the farms had a huuge underground tank, too bad i couldnt really take a good picture of it.
The hardest part on the way back was carrying the bottles i bougth, next time ill rent a van instead of a bicycle.
All in all we had a very nice afternoon, i would absolutely recommend doing a tour like this when you are in Mendoza!
After a day of rest and recovering from the wine, i went rock climbing with a local guy i met, i love the mountains and cant stay in the city too long. He told me there were some nice rocks just outside of the city and was willing to take me out for a climb.
getting to those rocks needed a hike ofcourse and eventough its a pretty dry area with not so much green vegetation, it was still very beautiful!
Going down was more fun then up, its pretty hard finding your way and very heavy!
You shouldnt be afraid of hights doing this, nothing can happen cos you are using the ropes but i can imagine some people would be scared.
My friend climbs a lot, i do think he needs new shoes….dont ask me how he did it but he went up 10 times faster then i did and was running down head first in a matter of seconds where it took me minutes to descent those big rocks.
It was a great day and definitely something i will do again in the future!
Thank you for reading my blog, where do we go next? Asia or Europe?