Hotel Ahotels Piolets Park Soldeu

... cheap. What you save in duty you’d make up in European rent, easy. The US is cheap, pure if not simple. Still Andorra is okay, easily dissed without cause. The only thing I can’t handle is the smoke, the man-made kind. The new regs haven’t reached here yet, so Andorra may soon become the place where smokers flock to light up in public, the anti-Amsterdam. That’s a claim to fame they can probably do without.

... 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:

... services the Toulouse airport that continues into town. Quite fortunate for me, because if I was going farther north in France like originally planned, it would've been very difficult to get there without taking the 6 AM bus.

I checked into Pension Rosa - very basic and suitable for a short stay, but I have definitely stayed in much better accommodations up to this point. At least it was very affordable. Off to the pharmacy - in addition to the ...

The monastery-turned-hotel Núria, north of the town of Ribes de Freser in Catalunya, Spain is an excellent destination for walking. There are several peaks around the hotel, enabling you to do comfortable and rewarding day-treks. Some peaks: Noufonts, Noucreus, Eyne, Puigmal... (can't remember all names right now). Altitude from 2000 to 3000 meters.

... Now.... 37 years ago Shane, Jerry and I thought we were in this village. We all have memories of being in Andorra da Ville but.... it weren't anything like what we see outside. Totally confused we spoke with a local today and discovered that all those years ago we were really only in a ski village near the border. We never did come this far in. Tomorrow we take that highway out of the country to France. Hopefully our fuzzy memories will be become clearer.

... Festa Brava hotel. I seriously considered going snowboarding, but it was just too late in the season and the snow, though plentiful, was just too wet for my tastes. So I wandered about town, dodging the hourly rainfall and taking in the sights. Not too much to be seen here, but nice to look around a place I had no idea even existed!

... car parks and dodgy looking hotels (I'm not personally). Eventually the bus pulled into the bus station at Andorra La Vella (the "capital" of this tiny principality) and I got off. After crossing a truly massive car park, probably their masterpiece, I got to a tourist information centre and acquired a map. "Are there any good places to try a variety of Andorran beer" I asked the bloke "We don't make beer in Andorra. Are you Danish?" "No, English" "Ok" I waited for a few ...

... go to school. Today I'm hitching with Andre, who took an extra day to get to Andorra but I figure it can't happen twice in a row. Our first ride takes us only 5km to the next village but it's good enough to get us started. Next we wait almost another hour for our next ride to take us 20km over the mountain pass to Pas de le Casa, where we were a few days prior. We can't remember exactly how far it was from here to the border so we decide to start ...

... fi personnel comme d'autres gravissent des montagnes ou franchissent des océans, j'espère déjà pouvoir repousser ces limites a peine testées et poursuivre ma route plus loin encore. Alors c'est avec un pincement au coeur que je reprendrais le travail lundi et que je reviendrais aux contraintes du quotidien après cette orgie de liberté mais c'est aussi avec la certitude que désormais ma vie se nourrira de découvertes perpétuelles que j'espère avoir la chance de partager.