Tony and Sue, our hosts in France, live only a couple of hours from Spain and Andorra. On previous visits we have visited Spain but had never crossed over to Andorra despite being close to the border in Ax-les-Thermes. Therefore, we decided to traipse over the mountains this time to spend a couple of days in the Principality and as our visit coincided with the Andorran Red music Festival we decided we would also take in a couple of gigs while we were there.
When I say that Andorra is a couple of hours away I mean by road. It's probably 10 minutes as the crow flies but the Pyrenees get in the way and the roads get a bit zig-zaggy. At times it feels like the road infrastructure was designed by someone with an Etch-a-Sketch twiddling both knobs at the same time. Third gear (not an automatic hire car) was a rare luxury most of the way there. And of course getting to the top of a mountain means you have to go down the other side in an equally zig-zaggy fashion. Etch-a Sketch road planners work in both countries.
Immediately over the border is a 'town' called El Pas de la Casa. I say 'town' as it is a collection of buildings connected with streets but it is, in effect, a shopping mall. Andorra is not part of the EU and many French come over the border for bargains - although customs are reportedly strict in enforcing limits on what can be brought back into France (However, we were not stopped in either direction). We stopped for a coffee but gave the shopping a pass. After leaving El Pas de la Casa we stopped at a viewing point to get a photo of the beautiful mountainous terrain looking back into France but the wind nearly took us of our feet so, discretion being the better part of valour, we retreated to the car and descended the mountain on the Andorran side.
Andorra la Vella is not a large town - well it's not a large country! It is technically two towns I suppose as it is joined to the north with Escalades Engordany but it is reasonably easy to walk around the towns without needing to resort to transportation. It is, not surprisingly as it is slap bang in the middle of a mountain range, inclined to steep gradients which test the old leg muscles a bit. However, after a short walk up hill to Escalades Engordany we found a nice restaurant on a busy plazza from which we could watch the world go by as we ate our lunch. 'The world going by' at that time consisted of various humanoids under the age of 12 playing football in between Taekwondo competitions in a nearby venue.
The local language is Catalan although Spanish and French are widely spoken. I can get by in Spanish and French but Catalan stumped me even though there is a similarity to Spanish. I discovered that the 4th language is actually Russian so I was OK with that! Apparently many Russians live in Andorra and I saw several Russian shops in the city of Andorra la Vella. English is widely spoken, too, so we were able to get ourselves (mis) understood in several languages!
Our hotel was very nice although it turned out that the 'suite with hot-tub' that we had booked turned out to be a 'suite with whirlpool bath'. I was a tad disappointed as I was expecting to be able to sit in the hot-tub on the balcony, looking over a mountain scene, sipping champagne. It's just not the same in a bath. it was also the only hotel I have ever stayed in that had bathroom scales! If you are going to put bathroom scales in a hotel room then at least have the decency to make them lie and tell me I weigh less!
The music festical was billed as a music and wine event. The Saturday night lineup was Lisa Stansfield and Roger Hodgson of Supertramp and when we arrived at the venue - the roof of the former Council of Ministers building - we were kitted out with the obligatory festival wristband and 4 books of vouchers for free wine. Waaaay heeey! Sean went off and found a nice rioja and I thought I would try a white wine that looked young and fruity, given the vibrant label design on the bottles in the cooling tub. I pointed and held up one finger while saying 'uno, por favor' (I did say my Spanish was limited) to which the rather rotund man behind the table began waving jazz hands at me while muttering something unintelligible in Catalan. There is only one thing for a Brit to do in those circumstances - apologise profusely for any inconvenience caused and leave quickly. It will be the rioja, then.
The venue was small and there could only have been about 800 people. We were very close to the stage and both sets were very good. Roger Hodgson had the larger and louder audience and seemed to have a dedicated following that had come up from Barcelona. Some great oldies played and some new material. It was after 1.00am when we eventually got back to the hotel but we had had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
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