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| A pair of Andorra hikers |
For the first time in a week, we left our car in the parking lot on this day. Our plan was to explore the capital of Andorra, Andorra la Vella, which, translated, means Andorra the City. We began our day with a search for breakfast fare in the same area we had visited the previous night.
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| Beautiful display of sweets |
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| More sweets |
We found a grocery store and picked up what we needed–the usuals, yogourt and croissants. We resisted the temptation presented by beautifully presented pastries nearby and unusual salty snacks on the supermarket shelves. You can learn a lot about a country by the flavours of their potato chips.
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| Nothing tempting here |
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| Our first sight of the Seven Poets |
On our way back to our hotel, we made a stop at the tourist information office to pick up a map. After breakfast, we used it to guide us to historic area of Andorra la Vella, about a 15 minute walk from our hotel. Our first sight in this supposedly old area was a very modern art installation of men atop poles.
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| Some of the Seven Poets |
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| A poet reflected in a window |
This is the Seven Poets, fibreglass sculptures representing the seven parishes of Andorra. They are illuminated at night, thus creating a more powerful impression than during the day. I recall counting them several times, because I could only see six from where I was standing. We later discovered the seventh one, hidden from the others.
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| Modern Andorra la Vella |
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| Getting in touch with my inner child |
As we stood in this plaza, we were a little puzzled. How could this be the historic centre? The buildings surrounding us were all very modern. There was a child's cutout nearby, featuring Playmobil characters. Somehow, I managed to fit part of my face under the biker's helmet, a photo op.
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| I sit in front of Casa de la Val |
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| Side view with the Andorran flag |
Our confusion abated when we spotted an elevator nearby which took us down to another plaza. Here was what we were looking for! The stunning building in front of us was Casa de la Val, dating from 1580. The ancestral home with defensive tower of the Busquets family, it became the headquarters of the Conseil de la Terra, the parliament of Andorra, in 1702 and remained so until 2011, when a new building was erected in another part of this square.
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| Tower and turret |
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| Door and crest |
We focused on the details of Andorra's oldest building. Its rough stone exterior was created to withstand harsh winters, but in early October, its utility was less notable than its beauty. The wooden door shows signs of age. I would have loved opening it to look inside but it was closed to the public on this day.
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| Modern parliament building |
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| Monument to the Constitution of Andorra |
The new Andorran Parliament building, with its dry stone exterior, aims to recreate the look of the old one. There are 28 seats here, representing every Andorran man and woman. A modern sculpture, the Monument to the Constitution of Andorra, stands in front of it. Made of Corten steel and featuring cutouts of human figures, it was created in 1993 to commemorate the signing of the country's constitution that year.
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| Monument to New Reform |
An older art installation stands in front of Casa de la Val. Erected in 1966 to mark the centennial of the "New Reform", a significant event in Andorran political history, the dancing couple represents traditional culture. On the old building itself, other details caught Bob's eye. He found a stone relief of the Andorran Coat of Arms, and then turned his camera to the roof to capture the blue sky above it.
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| Roofline |
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| Gate and me |
Before we left the area, I posed behind an ancient gate, then we moved on in search of more Andorran history and culture. Expecting more historical buildings, we were surprised by the first installation we came upon. Here was what appeared to be a human-sized marionette positioned inside a large alcove.
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| I stop in front of an unusual art installation |
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| Close up of the angel |
This is "Àngel del trapezi", the Angel on a Trapeze sculpture created by Argentinian Fernando Blasi, who now lives in Barcelona. He fashioned this unusual female image out of welded steel plates. I leave it to you to interpret its significance.
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| A representation of the traditional dance of Andorra |
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| Placeta de Sant Esteve |
Close by is another interesting piece, this one closely associated with the country. The figures holding hands here are performing the Sardana, the national dance of Andorra. It is located in Placeta de Sant Esteve where we found a church with the same name.
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| Entrance to Església de Sant Esteve |
Església de Sant Esteve was built in the 11th and 12th centuries in the Romanesque style. It retains a semi-circular apse from that period, but in most other respects, it is quite modern, having undergone a major restoration in 1940. At that time, most of its artwork was moved to the Museo del Prado in Spain.
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| I had the church to myself here. |
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| Rose coloured apse |
The interior is unusual for a Catholic church, as it is quite plain. The exceptions to this are two baroque altarpieces, excellent examples of the finest woodworking of the time. As you can see in the photos above, the lighting bathes the apse in a rose colour.
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| Casa Felipó |
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| Consruction |
Once we moved on from Sant Esteve square, we left most of historic Andorra la Vella behind us. However, Bob spotted a heritage property, Casa Felipó, on our route. It was built in 1948 and has a distinctive façade of granite. For the most part though, what we saw were very modern buildings and lots of construction.
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| Hello from Andorra la Vella |
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| Reflecting |
When we arrived at a mirrored building, Bob set up a couple of playful reflected shots, one of me waving, the other of the two of us. Mostly, our attention was drawn to the shop windows of this main shopping street, Avinguda de Meritxell. The selling of Royal Ducks is a popular trend worldwide. I had seen them on display in Croatia and Japan on earlier trips.
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| Andorran fashion |
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| Royal Ducks |
Generally, we were not tempted to stop along the way, since the shops were primarily high end ones. However, I was on the hunt for locally made earrings and eventually settled for some that would not cost me an arm and a leg. They would serve as my Andorran souvenirs.
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| The busy town centre |
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| Noblesa del Temps |
When we arrived at the Plaza del Pueblo, we once again visited the sights there. Under a blue sky, the Dali sculpture and the city sign were just as lovely as under the lights. Here, too, courses the Gran Valira River. It is so controlled, it appears to be a canal, but in fact, this narrow waterway is a convenient reference point in the city.
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| Back in the city centre |
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| Pintxos |
It was lunch time, so we went looking for something to eat. We decided to try the Lizarran Taberna Andorra, a small establishment displaying pintxos at its counter. We pointed at a couple of these delectable tidbits and found a table to enjoy them.
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| The Caldea spa resort as seen from the bus |
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| Large biker in La Massana |
Our plan for the afternoon was to take a hike, literally. We had learned that Andorra offers three major activities for tourists: shopping (which we could not afford); skiing (which was impossible in the off-season); and hiking (which had some appeal). I downloaded a hiking app and chose a gentle walk, mainly downhill. To get to the start, we took a local bus up to La Massana, a community directly north of us. When we arrived, the large representation of a biker wearing the colours of the Andorran flag suggested that biking would have been another option for us (but we had no interest in doing that).
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| A trio of horses |
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| Men, horses and water |
We missed our stop on the bus, so we had to make our way back through the streets of La Massana to get the trail we were seeking. On our way, we stopped for a while beside an interesting art installation. Here were images of men and horses, all fashioned out of metal rings, and standing in water. I really liked this one.
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| The Valira d'Orient |
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| The part of the trail we could not take |
Eventually, we found the spot where the trail begins. We would be following a river, the Valira d'Orient, as it courses down towards Andorra la Vella. However, as soon as we began walking we learned that the trail was blocked in its north end. A young man nearby explained to us–in a combination of Catalan and Spanish–that we would have to take a different route and join the trail later.
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| Walking the Cami Ral de la Massana |
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| The shallow river |
Once we figured that out, we were on our way. This hike, the Cami Ral de la Massena, is a 6.1 kilometre stroll on well-marked paths. Because we were in a ravine, we rarely saw signs of the urban life above us. This was a welcome departure from our days of road-tripping and a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
Since our photos are very similar and I cannot recall the details of our hike, let me tell you a little more about the tiny country we were enjoying on this day. Andorra is the sixth smallest state in Europe, with an area of 468 square kilometres and a population of about 82 000 people.
It is believed to have been a nation since the days of Charlemagne. The people here are of the Romance group ethnically, closely related to the Catalans in eastern Spain. As a result, Catalan is the official language, but French and Spanish are also commonly spoken.
Interestingly, Andorra is not a member of the European Union, but has joined the Council of Europe and the United Nations, although the latter membership only occurred recently, in 1993. Positioned at over 1 000 metres above sea level, Andorra la Vella is the highest capital in Europe.
The name of the country, Andorra, is of unknown origin. but there have been several theories put forward. The oldest of these is from a Greek historian, Polybius, who described an Iberian Pre-Roman tribe called the Andosins who lived in these valleys. Another theory credits the origin to the Moors who conquered the area and called this place ad-dãrra.
These etymological possibilities show the long history of people living in the area. While it has occasionally been occupied by other groups, Andorra has essentially remained an independent state for over a thousand years. Today it is a parliamentary co-principality with two heads of state, the bishop of Urgel and the president of France. Its head of government is the president of the Government of Andorra.
I hope you have enjoyed the photos of our walk along the Cami Rai. We certainly loved it. Almost always, we were completely alone, encountering few other hikers as we made our way. As advertised, the route was easy to navigate as it sloped downhill.
Most of the time, I walked ahead of Bob as he frequently stopped to take photos. When I arrived at a stone bridge, I signalled him to take the photo above. After we crossed the bridge together, we came upon the selfie station in the other photo. The shot that begins this post was taken this way.
Shortly after this, we arrived at the end of the Cami Rai, but our afternoon walk was not over yet. We joined a second trail, the Rec de Solà, which ranges above Andorra la Vella. In my research, I had read that there would be lots of places to rest on the trails we took, but it wasn't until we reached our second route that I sat down.
This second hiking experience was quite different from our first. We were no longer in a ravine, and there was no bubbling river coursing by us, but rather, a small irrigation channel ran on our right. The paved path of Rec de Solà was in better condition than that of Cami Rai, and we often had views over the cityscape below us.
Happily, we were still walking either straight or slightly downhill, so this was not at all a taxing effort. I recall that, at one point, I saw a cat fight between two angry toms ahead of me. I stopped walking when I heard their angry screams. Otherwise, we enjoyed a peaceful excursion.
Here's a bit more about the country. Until the 1950s, Andorra's economy was based on agriculture and livestock-raising. With so little arable land, this led to a hard-scrabble existence for the residents. Since then, with the switch to tourism as their main industry, the country's economy is thriving.
We were just two of the nine million tourists who visited Andorra in 2025. We came out of curiosity, but many of the others made the trip here to shop, since there is no tax on products sold in this country. Imagine getting a $6000+ Rolex watch without paying 13% in taxes on top of that, like we do in Ontario. In spite of the potential bargains in high end items here, Bob and I were not tempted in the least to spend much in Andorra.
After hiking for over three hours, we arrived at a steep stairway and ramp that would take us down to the city streets below us. We had enjoyed our afternoon hike, and appreciated the chance to get some exercise. When we finally arrived at street level, we had to re-orient ourselves in order to make our way back to our hotel, but Bob has a very good sense of direction, so he solved that problem quickly.
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| The way down |
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| Avinguda Meritxell |
After a rest, we headed out for our evening meal. I had read that l'Escapada was a good place for traditional Catalan food, so there we went. I enjoyed a goat cheese salad, and a chocolate and cream dessert, while Bob opted again for Russian salad, but added spring rolls and cooked milk for dessert. We were hungry, having walked 28 000 steps this day. On the way back to the Acta Arthotel, we spotted a little touch of home, a Tim Horton's in the Pynénées. That was a pleasant surprise on our last evening in the tiny country of Andorra.
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| Timmy's! |
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