Andorra
Every trip to Barcelona is not complete if we don’t explore other regions either within Spain or close by. This trip we drove about 2 hours towards France to an independent principality called Andorra. It is in the Pyrenees mountains so during winters it is a ski haven and apparently also a tax haven all the year round.
Unfortunately we had just a day so had to turn around within a few hours. It was a bit disappointing to not see as much snow as we had hoped to because we did not drive up much further and spent the few hours we were there in La Vella which is the capital of Andorra. We could also not see the lakes that are supposed to be quite a treat for the eyes because they were not around where we were.
I must admit La Vella was quite under whelming and felt very jaded. The buildings looked old with narrow cobbled streets and because it’s in the mountains we did a decent amount of climbing and then steep inclines going down so pretty good cardio.
There are plenty of restaurants in La Vella, some came recommended by a friend who lives there but it was impossible to get a table without a reservation.
We eventually managed to find a table at a relatively less busy restaurant hoping the food would be good. The staff were not exactly friendly. We spent about 15 minutes trying to explain to them that our vaccination certificate was not from Europe which is why the QR code did not work. They finally agreed to let us in after seeing our ID’s and speaking to their manager. After all this drama we were relieved to find the food quite fresh and delicious with interesting Andorran traditional flavors.
Apparently there are over a couple of hundred restaurants in that small town and lots of boutiques, shops and malls. What I found strange was the big McDonald’s sign by the pass marker which looked so ridiculous and blocked what potentially could have been a great view of the mountains.
The drive up to Andorra was spectacular which I suppose made the trip worthwhile and the fact that it was just a day trip was good. I would not necessarily want to go back there again.