ARGENTINA

LA RIOJA

Capital of the province bearing the same name, this city is located at the foot of the magnificent Sierra of Velasco. It was founded on May 20th, 1591 by Juan Ramírez de Velazco who gave it the name of Ciudad de Todos los Santos de la Nueva Rioja (City of all the Saints of the New Rioja), as a reminder of the homonymous Spanish region. 
This province, characterized by an uneven geography, presents a strange amalgam of mountains and plains, appart from its characteristic green and black hills and valleys whose ocher colour is tinted by the varied policromy of its plantations. 
Its building aspect presents the combination of the antique with the modern,  displaying low constructions, narrow streets, and cheerful and well-ornamented squares still exhibiting the old orange trees that give a characteristic note to this city. The commercial city centre is quite active and it is mostly concentrated around the main square.
There are some traditional festivities such as The National Festivity of the Chaya and that of San Nicolas and el Niño Alcalde.The last one is an emotive popular religious ceremony that goes back to 1953. You can find some other possibilities for relaxation nearby: The Llacampis Park, ideal for camping, Las Padercitas, National Historic Monument and pilgrimage place: Los Sauces  Dike and Mount La Cruz. Such places offer astonishing landscapes.
In this way La Rioja, invites you to visit it leisurely and to discover the gentleness of its people who day after day build, with their fruitful labour, the promising future that they have always longed for their land.