Hotel Euroski Soldeu

... 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:

... towards me?

As I ate, I saw a few people hobble by on crutches - what gives? I've seen 5-6 people on crutches today, do Andorrans all have weak ankles that leave them susceptible to sprains?

Did some aimless wandering to burn off some of that big meal before bed ... it's pretty dead here at night, and just wasn't very fun. Off to bed, with the hope that I won't be up all night coughing, and won't wake up with any more crusty pie eyes. ....

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.

... 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 ...

... on the bus but was subjected to an eclectic range of music from the over-loud radio. Shakira, A-ha, Katy Perry all featured...it was like someone had tried composing a soundtrack to the holocaust. It was a slight improvement on the Albanian buses, where they insisted on playing very loud, very cheesy, Albanian pop at full volume all night with accompanying videos which were somewhere between children's entertainment and amateur porn (two very different genres in any other country).

... but apart from this all was well and fun was had by all. After going back to the apartment for some lunch and to dry off and go for a little walk around town to find something to do, but before we get far Andre texts us to say he and Andy are at the apartment so go back to let them in. After some rest for them we head out to climb something so we can get some decent views of the town and surrounding mountains. We find a hill the other side of ...

... village of Pas de la Casa sits at 6500 feet altitude in a hole between white, tree-less mountains. I´d done all my snowboarding to date on the slopes here which are little more than boring drops. If you want to journey the forested Pyrenees of the Andorran interior, you need a ski pass. We snowboarded down the mountain away from Pas de la Casa. The long ski run led us gradually down and around vision-obstructing snowy mounds. A snow-dusted forest of bushy spruces ...