6 Best Sights in Bilbao and the Basque Country, Spain

This town, southeast of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, has two jaw-dropping monasteries on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. There's Monasterio de Yuso, where a 10th-century manuscript on St. Augustine's Glosas Emilianenses contains handwritten notes in what is considered the earliest example of the Spanish language, the vernacular Latin dialect known as Roman Paladino. And then there's the Visigothic Monasterio de Suso ( www.monasteriodesanmillan.com), where Gonzalo de Berceo, recognized as the first Castilian poet, wrote and recited his 13th-century verse in the Castilian tongue, now the language of nearly 600 million people around the world.

Enter the Sierra de la Demanda by heading south from Santo Domingo de la Calzada on LR111. Your first stop is the town of Ezcaray, with its aristocratic houses emblazoned with family crests, of which the palace of Conde de Torremúzquiz is the most distinguished. The town is famous for its mohair (angora goat wool) textiles, of which Mantas Ezcaray is the only remaining producer in Spain; the shop ( Calle Cristobal de Zamudio 12;  www.mantasezcaray.com) services fashion houses like Loewe and Armani. Good excursions from Ezcaray are the Valdezcaray ski station; the source of the Río Oja at Llano de la Casa; La Rioja's highest point, the 7,494-foot Pico de San Lorenzo; and the Romanesque church of Tres Fuentes, at Valgañón. The hamlet is also known for its wild mushrooms—and the resulting tapas served in its barrooms.

This town was the capital of Navarra and La Rioja until 1076, when the latter became part of Castile and the residence of the Castilian royal family. The monastery of Santa María la Real ( www.santamarialareal.net), the "pantheon of kings," is distinguished by its 16th-century Claustro de los Caballeros (Cavaliers' Cloister), a flamboyant Gothic structure with 24 lacy plateresque Renaissance arches overlooking a grassy patio. The sculpted 12th-century tomb of Doña Blanca de Navarra is the monastery's best-known sarcophagus, while the 67 Gothic choir stalls dating from 1495 are among Spain's best.

This town, 14 km (9 miles) west of Logroño via the A12, has noble houses and the 16th-century Santa María de la Asunción church. The village is also famous for its painted ceramics; shop at any of the artisan shops in the town center.

An unforgettable glimpse into the Kingdom of Navarra of the Middle Ages is the reward for journeying to this town. The 11th-century church of San Pedro is revered for its finely worked Romanesque cloisters and portal, but it's the town's storybook castle—restored by Carlos III in the French style and brimming with ramparts, crenellated battlements, and watchtowers—that dazzles the imagination. You can walk the ramparts, and should you get tired or hungry, part of the castle has been converted into a parador, making a fine place to grab a snack or catch a few z's.

A stop on the Camino de Santiago, this town is named after an 11th-century saint who built roads and bridges for pilgrims and founded the hospital that is now a parador. The cathedral ( Calle Cristo  94/134--0033) is a Romanesque-Gothic pile containing the saint's tomb, choir murals, and a walnut altarpiece carved by Damià Forment in 1541. The live hen and rooster in a plateresque stone chicken coop commemorate a legendary local miracle in which a pair of roasted fowl came back to life to protest the innocence of a pilgrim hanged for theft. Be sure to stroll through the beautifully preserved medieval quarter.