Abba Xalet Suites La Massana

... never French. As in Barcelona, though, the main language is Catalan, one of Andorra’s few claims to fame. For me, though, it has another claim to fame. THIS IS MY 100TH COUNTRY!!! WHOOPPEE!! BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE!!! As it is, I’ll settle for a decent meal and a decent night’s sleep. At least I have a decent room for a decent price, so better than the last night in Barcelona and no small consideration for any ...

... days will get some entries soon.

Today, we started from France, and drove a few miles into Andorra. So we have now done 10 of the 11 countires!!

Photos to follow, I'll just go back and put some news on the other days, then get photos loaded up. That takes ages.

... the watershed and we drop into the Spanish frontier town of Bourg Madame. We continue east across a wide plane undulating over the Col De Llous (1345m) and the Col De la Perche (1570m). From here a unbelievably long descent takes us nearly al the way to our
hotel. Prades has a reassuringly Mediterranean feel about it, with lots of courtyard cafe's and
clay tiled roofs.

WHAT I EXPERIENCED:

... about experiencing a different kind of travel. Saving the money is a bonus for me, because it means I can splurge on nice dinners and experiences if I so choose, but more importantly, it's because it means I can usually do two big trips per year, rather than one. So I can see where this guy is coming from. Of course, not knowing how much money he has left in the bank could also mean that he only has $10 in his account.

I went to a locutorio ...

... We have booked for two nights. This is off season so, for 50E a night we get a four star hotel with pool, sauna & gym right in the middle of town. Great! Today we walked from one end of the town to the other on a very nice stone path elevated above the city with a few farms between us and the chaos. Wandered around the city a bit and are now enjoying a kick back. Plan to go for a swim this afternoon, rest a bit and go on the town later for ...

... s ski resorts and as a summer mountain getaway for Europeans. Taking a minibus from Toulouse to Andorra, I literally had to go through rain, hail, and a snowstorm to get there! Arriving at Pas de la Casa, it was 0 degrees and snowing hard. Thirty minutes later we made it to Andorra la Vella, the capital city, where I would stay at ...

... for a follow up, but there wasn't one, he just stared at me until I left..a little odd. No beer eh?, Andorra had already made itself onto my enemies list (along with those kids from the Cadburys advert, The Earl Grey pub and that fat kid who sometimes comes into Morrisons who I don't like the look of). I went for a walk around the "city" to see what exactly it had. Nothing really. There was a giant **** off model snowman in the middle of the street for no discernable reason ...

... an hour of no luck it's gone 3 and we need to make a decision on what to do. So we decide to walk to the nearby town of Bram as we can see a train line that runs close to it. After walking through the while of Bram and seeing that it pretty much has nothing to offer we see a sign for the train station and our eyes light up. The lady behind the counter tells us there is a train in 40 minutes and we will have to change once to get to Perpignan. Even ...

... a stray dog to play catch with. The downhill trip ended in a championship of downhill snow ball racing. Neil came out champion, surprisingly as we haven't had snow for a good few years I would have thought he was out of practice, but no he clinched the victory by a rather small margin from Andrei, who I would like to note was the only other competitor in the competition. Again the night finishes with cards as the kids have gone to bed and we hit ...

i've never been brilliant in geography class (and my horrendous map-reading skills is a further attestation to that) and last weekend, i learnt, *embarrassed* that Andorra is actually a country. hah i always thought it to be part of Spain. well, life is a constant journey of learning and discovery ain't it? some quick thoughts, it's pretty commercialised given the tax-haven status. as a result, shopping here is cheaper than ...