Chugging along from Spain, we took a pricy bus ($36/each) three hours northwest to the little principality of Andorra, a country which has remarkably been around for 1000 years and has never been involved in a war.
Also yes, that counts as a new country for both of us. Andorra, swallowed by France on one side and Spain on the other, is tucked high in the Pyrenees Mountains. It’s most known for its phenomenal ski resorts and tax-free shopping, which basically makes it an ideal land for the French and Spaniards to stock up on cheap booze and cigarettes. Andorra is a bit of a linguistic obscurity. Their official language is Catalan (like Barcelona) but also they widely speak French, Spanish and English. It is also notably, not an EU country, nor in the Schengen Zone.* So, in theory, we got an extra day added to our 90-day Schengen stay.
*The Schengen is a collection of 26 mostly western and central European countries where as Americans we are only allowed to travel for 90 days out of 180.
Andorra, holding 85,000 residents and citizens, is TINY. You can cross the whole country in 40 km. There are no trains or airports. So, you had better be comfortable jumping on a bus or in a car. And yes, you can also hike it. We love this idea! ?
Entering Andorra, we were starving because they wouldn’t let you eat on the bus and we had left the station at 11:30 am with bagged lunches ready to enjoy on board. There’s nothing worse (ok, first world problems) than staring at a delicious sandwich for 4 hours that you can’t enjoy when your stomach is flipping over itself and you’re ready to eat your hand. But, Mandy was directly behind the bus driver, who had already scolded someone else so there was no cheating. Geez. Who knew Andorrans were such food gestapos?
Anyhow, when we crossed the border you must be prepared to show your passport even though they don’t stamp it. Mandy, as mentioned was in the very first seat which meant the officer got to her passport first. Flipping through her passport, he found a lot of stamps, but not one from May 2022 Schengen. He gave it back to her, barking something which probably meant “stamp” but didn’t sound like Spanish or French. Mandy shrugged, and he switched to English, “stamp, stamp!!” Mandy, knowing full well the officer in Amsterdam had failed to stamp her passport, eventually admitted she had not received one. The officer gave her a look that said, “Don’t fuck with Andorra” and said, “Well, we have a BIG problem then!” At this time, of course, half the bus was looking Mandy’s way. Fortunately, her response was the right one, mentioning that her husband had received a stamp when we entered. Sure enough, Greg…five rows back, watching in concerned amusement, came to rescue his princess with his passport stamp. The officer looked at his name and stamp, looked back at Mandy, made a “Hmpffff” noise and moved on. Greg only had a stamp because he had entered Schengen through a different port and officer! So…a good reminder…don’t forget to check for your stamp when entering Schengen!!
Greg, the mule, carrying 3 out of 4 of our bags. He’s getting quite beefy thanks to Mandy’s foot ?
Technically, Andorra is the world’s only co-principality. A principality is a place ruled by a prince. Monaco is an example of a principality. Andorra, however, has two princes who jointly share the title of prince. Surprisingly, neither of the two princes are from Andorra. One prince is the President of France. The other co-prince is the Bishop of Urgell, who is currently Joan Enric Vives Sicília. The position is a constitutional one similar to the British Monarchy and holds no real power. Except for limited things, the two princes must exercise their authority together, not separately. This is the only country where one of their heads of state (the President of France) is democratically elected by another country. The other prince, the bishop, is appointed by the head of state of another country (the Pope). So bizarre. A little help we got on our Andorra facts.
We settled into our home for the night in the capital of Andorra La Vella at Hotel Pyrenees (Right.) Thank you to a good friend, Megan, for making this happen.
Mandy models her new bootie and one crutch as she basks in the glory of the mountains on the rooftop pool.
It was actually a little chilly so we didn’t even get in! We gave the mule a break too.
However, it was a quick one. Andorra la Vella is the highest capital city in Europe at an elevation of 1,023 meters (3356 feet) so Greg was eager to check out the lay of the land, and did so by popping onto the Rec del Solà Trail, right behind our hotel. If you look closely you can see Mandy far below at the pool!
Once you summited, a lovely flat cobbled trail with an accompanying levada hugs the curve of the mountain. We only have seen similar man-made irrigation canals or aqueducts on the island of Madeira (Portugal) before.
The view of the capital, which is pretty much a town of 10,000 from far above.
After a month of Spanish cities, we’re happy to be amongst beautiful nature again.
The trickling water and lack of people made it even more peaceful. Not to mention, the abundant sunshine and the spring-like weather.
Exploring the town, which was very polished.
Plaça Príncep Benlloch
It sometimes felt a little reminiscent of Switzerland, especially with the surrounding mountains.
We loved the stonework archways.
In front of a building from the 1500’s called Casa de la Vall. Andorra has the 8th highest life expectancy in the worldat 82.9 years. After Japan, interestingly every other country with a higher life expectancy is also a small country or a small territory: Monaco, Singapore, Iceland, Macau, San Marino, and Hong Kong. (Culture Trip).
Casa de la Vall was used by the Andorran government from 1701 through 2011.
The Andorran flag looks very similar to the flag of Moldova, we noticed. However, the emblem is apparently different. It was a quick one night stay at Hotel Pyrenees and then we were off again! Andorra…check!?
