Hotel Andorra Center Andorra la Vella

... in Europe, especially in a tourist-only ski resort. I even have WiFi in my room, and the lady calls it ‘wee-fee’, first time I’ve heard that, even in a Latin-speaking country.

The weather is beautiful, Indian summer in a mountain town, so you can hardly beat that. My hiking boots and down vest feel almost in sync for the first time in ages. My ‘travel clothes’ are really similar to others ...

... 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:

Annoying new Aussie girls in the room last night ... they showed up around 1 AM, and made a huge racket unpacking and getting ready for bed. The night receptionist even came up, asking them to be quiet because they were disturbing the other sleeping guests in the room, to which they replied "They're not sleeping, they're talking to us!" Uh ... most were either sleeping, or trying to sleep, until you came in ... The funny thing is they were nice enough, but ...

... 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 ...

... not exactly the best snow, however Andorra's ski season started the weekend prior so there is a decent covering of snow on the hills and mountains. We head out, with Luis and his daughters also to a hill just behind their apartment, very convenient but deceptively hard work to walk up. The next hour or so is spent going down the hill very fast on sleds and then walking back up considerably slower. Sian did her best to try and hurt one of the children by ...

... Truely this must be the cursed land Dracula or Nosferatu. Okay, there was a lot of ligtening and when I got off the bus I was in shorts. We took refuge in a McDs and nourished ourselves. Immediatly then two things occured, I got horrible indigestion from the burger and I realized the abscence of my wallet... Damn you Andorra!! We eventually bunkered down in Hotel Salvia and contimplated our folly. MORE TO COME LATER... for those worried the wallet was recovered etc... i say ...

... road, winding but very wide with spectacular views on snow-covered mountains. The last part already within Andorran borders. The capital of Andorra, Andorra La Vella, proved to be little more than a shopping strip. Admittedly, prices were very attractive, for example, Diesel fuel cost 55 cents per litre compared with some 85 in France.