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Mendoza (1 May)
Arriving in Mendoza on the Saturday morning didn't turn out to be ideal. It was May Day which is apparently a big thing in Argentina and so everything was closed. I had a little wander round the town, before tracking down an open convenience store, investing in a bottle of vino tinto and proceeding to spend my day sat next to the pool enjoying the sunshine and wine! Turned out to be quite a satisfying day. Unfortunately despite the good reviews of my hostel on Hostelworld, there was only me there, plus a Swedish couple, so I didn't really have anyone to talk to / drink with! I did really want to go out that night, but being Argentina where people don't go out til at least midnight, the fact I'd be going out on my own and the fact I was sleepy from drinking all day, I sacked the idea off and went to bed.
The next day, being Sunday in a Catholic country, meant that everywhere was closed again. Long! This time I found a sick restaurant called Azafran that Byron had recommended to me and hit there for lunch. They employed a sommelier so I felt obliged to visit the wine cellar and pick out a good bottle of wine. I had a good 3 course meal and sat outside for a couple of hours enjoying the fine cuisine and booze! I then went for a cheeky wander to the local park which turned out to be a mission away and hench so I got lost. By the time I found my way out and back to the hostel a couple of Irish guys had checked in, so had a couple of beers with them and decided we'd do the bike wine tour the next day. I was glad they turned up cos it would have been pretty s*** hiring a bike and cycling around vineyards all day on my own!
The classic way to visit the Mendoza vineyards is to get the bus out to Maipu and hire a bike. I managed to gash my leg open on a nail sticking out of my seat on the bus so that wasn't a great start to the day. When we got to Maipu we hired bikes off a guy from Barnsley and headed for the wine museum. We got a couple of free glasses of wine there, and then moved on to the liquor and olive oil factory. Here I was offered absinthe, and being a lad I obviously had to indulge, despite it being just midday! We hopped on our bikes and then cycled about 12km to the end of Maipu. We tasted more wine and got some lunch at Familia di Tomasso, then made our way back to the start point, stopping off at more vineyards along the way. The one - Tempus Alba - was particularly good, and had a terrace overlooking the vineyard, so we sat up there enjoying the sunshine and a few glasses of wine. We eventually made it back to the bike shop at 6ish, had another couple of glasses of vino and got the bus to Mendoza. It was a jokes day, but by the time we got back to the hostel I had about 10 mins to get my bag and get to the bus terminal for my overnight bus to Bariloche.
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