Andorrrra! (the rolled R is a necessity) (Andorra, 2023)

A quick adventure to the mountainous, remote country of Andorra: home to under 80,000 people and to precisely 0 international railways or airports.

As part of our Barcelona trip (see this blog for more!), Walter and I took a day trip to Andorra, which was a 3-4 hour bus ride away.

Our drive there took us through some beautiful mountains. On the border, we were actually stopped and told to present our passports, which makes sense because Andorra is not part of the EU or Schengen area, but it still felt weird to me.

Once we arrived, we stopped by a cafe for croissants and coffee. It was harder than expected to find food because everything was closed on Sunday morning (and afternoon, as you’ll come to read). We then set off on our first trail of the day, the Rec del Sola, or the Irrigation Canal Trail, which, surprisingly, is an old irrigation canal-turned-hiking trail. It was a super steep climb to get there, especially with parts of the path covered in ice. Luckily, though, after 10-15 minutes of physical hardship, we were rewarded with a flat, mostly paved trail that overlooked the city and mountains beyond it. The views were incredible and the snow just accentuated everything.

We then decided to check out another trail on the other side of the city, Passatge del Rec l’Obac. The walk across town allowed us to see the city of Andorra La Vella, which was pretty quiet on this Sunday (I’d come to learn that we had come on the most popular ski weekend, so everyone was out skiing). There were these statues of gold Buddhist monks atop pillars, as well as some other unique architecture. This next trail also featured a steep ascent but then a flat trail to walk on. There was a lot more snow and ice on this side of the mountain since the shadow of the mountain fell on this side. Parts of the trail turned into a winter wonderland, with amazing landscape views of the snow-covered forest. The large Olympic training facility was also nearby, which was weird for such a small country, but then again they do have a LOT of snow sports presence (something we Texans are completely unfamiliar with).

As the hours ticked by, we walked back into the city to find lunch, and one of the few places open was a noodle place called Udon (if you read my Barcelona blog, this is part of a larger theme of Asian food being extremely common in this area). One hearty meal later, we boarded our bus back to Barcelona, which was unfortunately in the middle of rush hour and took us quite a while to get back. Side note, while at the bus station, I saw that Andorra’s telephone numbers were only 6 digits long since there are well under a million active numbers in the country. Continuing with the Asian theme, we grabbed dinner at a Korean fried chicken place, Os Familia, and head back to Walter’s cousin’s apartment to play some Wii and catch up on sleep.

Takeaways

• Andorra is a peaceful, serene country with some great hiking spots and even better ski spots
• They take their Olympic sports super seriously
• Getting a girl’s number is 40% easier since there are fewer numbers involved in the process
• Andorra La Vella is a quiet city home to some interesting statues/sculptures and Asian food

Rose-Bud-Thorn

Rose (what went well): Amazing, picturesque hikes of the mountains, city, and snow-laden forest
Bud (what was good but could be improved on): Our transportation to and from Andorra was relatively smooth, but booking during rush hour turned a 3-hour bus into a 5-hour one, which is painful after a day of hikes. Definitely will book a later bus next time!
Thorn (what did not go well): I imagine the stars would have been an absolutely gorgeous sight to see from this secluded nation, but we left right around sunset and missed seeing them.