What they have in spades is atmosphere - at 10pm on a Friday or Saturday night, the whole street is bursting with people, noise and garlicky aromas. The crowd is made up of revellers of all ages. There are constant shrieks and laughter as people bump into their friends. We begin as a threesome and end up with about a dozen of Patricia's friends - although after my 10th glass of wine it became increasingly difficult to work out exactly who was in our group. An hour and a half's drive south of Bilbao, the region is virtually unknown to British tourists.
Guidebooks give it the most cursory of mentions, or often none at all.
Admittedly, it lacks the celebrated history of, say, Toledo or Seville, or the buzz of Barcelona, but, if you want to explore an authentic slice of rural Spain, this is the place for you. Not that the region is short of history. However for me, the real treasures of La Rioja are the sierras. There are lovely walks through mountain woodland, cycle rides along forest tracks and days to be spent exploring remote mountain villages. The day after our tapas hopping, we headed to one such village, Villoslada de Cameros, where Patricia's family owns a house.