Andorra

Andorra is a tiny little country in Europe, between France and Spain, in the mountains of Pyrenees and has no airport.

How to fly there? Well, I got to Girona first and rent the car from there. Google says 3 and half hours for 220 km. How is that possible? Well, when we saw the landscape – mountains crossed with steep bends we realized that the max speed is going to be 50 km/h.

Believed to have been created by Charlemagne, Andorra is nowadays ruled by the diarchy headed by two Princes: the Catholic Bishop of Urgell in Catalonia, Spain, and the President of France.

Anyhow, driving through Pyrenees was amazing. Green hills, sunshine and blue sky and far away the white snow in the mountains…

We couldn’t help but stop to admire and take some fresh air. You know how they say: Fresh air makes hunger. So we had a diner in this beautiful old house – restaurant:

The Andorran people are a Romance ethnic group of originally Catalan descent. The spoken languages are French and Spanish (both castillan and catalan).

Anyhow, we arrived to our hotel which was not in the capital city but some small city called Erts. Something like 15 min away from the capital. Honestly, if we would have been driving 15 min more we would end up in France.

It was off the winter season, and seems like in Andorra they live for winter tourism so the Christmas decorations were still on. The price was cheap cause they don’t have VAT taxation and yeah, it is off the season. Andorra is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is its official currency.

So we had the most beautiful room with the view on waterfall and mountains. It was loud all night and relaxing… 🙂

Next day after the healthy breakfast in the mountains, we took a walk around the river and admired the nature.

Then, the journey planned was the capital city Andorra la Vella. Btw, I noticed the little bicycles placed on the street lights. Cute, isn’t it? 🙂

And the cable car 🙂 Unfortunately, we didn’t stop… Next time when I come back, I promise!

And then we arrived to the capital, after some minutes of drivings.

The principal industry is tourism, as already mentioned, although the country also earns foreign income from being a tax haven. Furniture and brandies are local products. Being at an elevation of 1,023 m, it is the highest capital city in Europe and a popular ski resort.

However, it was time to sit and make a planning of the afternoon.

We had a local beer. It tasted nicely, I have to admit.

The beer is called Boris according to an adventurer and nobleman Boris Skossyreff, who in 1934 self-proclaimed himself a Kinfg of Andorra with his promise of freedoms and modernization of the country and wealth through the establishment of a tax haven and foreign investments. He was arrested by the Co-Prince and Bishop.

After the small break we continued towards the city center. They call it old city but there is nothing old there, except three houses which were anyhow destroyed and rebuilt.

In the city centre was the Church of St Esteve, ocated on Plaça del Príncep Benlloch. It was built in the 11th-12th century and then restored in the 20th century.

Andorra nowadays continued with the same economic system that it had during the 12th–14th centuries with a large production of metallurgy and with the introduction of tobacco and import trade. The fair of Andorra la Vella was ratified by the co-princes in 14th century being the most important annual national festival commercially ever since. Indeed, the tobacco shops are present everywhere for the very cheap price.

Casa de la Vall is a historical house built in 16th century as a manor and tower defense by the Busquets family. Until recently it was the seat of the legislative and executive power of Andorra.

We entered the building and had a nice tour with a guide.

Andorra is a parliamentary co-principality with the President of France and the CatholicBishop of Urgell (Catalonia, Spain) as Co-Princes. When I asked the guide how many times do they meet, I was told that the Bishop is regularly coming to govern but the French Presidents come twice in the mandate. Well…

Also, just a hint, imagine if Catalonia gets the so much wanted independence?! You can let me know your answers and possible scenarios in the comments 🙂