Hotel Fenix Les Escaldes

... major city in the world and streets would be packed with rush-hour throngs, but not here. Spaniards like to stay up late and get up late, but what does it mean when the sun does the same? Not much I reckon except that Spaniards have the satisfaction of feeling like late-night sophisticates. Jo jum…

They DO have an Arc de Triomf close by and that gaudy temple to La Sagrada Familia not far from the bus station either. You ...

we've had some problems getting to this stage, and so haven't been able to keep the blog up to date. So far everything is now working out fine, and we have arrived on site to be able to set up in the light, and the campsite has electricity, so we are ok to get written up today. Hopefully ...

WHAT THE BROCHURE SAID: The Col de Port (1249m) is a beautiful climb and has a great descent to Tarascon.

Unfortunately the rest of the days route is on fairly major roads filed with cars heading for
Andorra to do some tax free shopping. Soaking your feet in thermal waters in Ax is highly
recommended, before taking on the seemingly endless Col de Puymorens (1915m).

We are now ...

... atmosphere, and seems like a giant, tacky duty free shop - exactly as described by guidebooks. Truthfully, I'm only here to get a fridge magnet, which almost seems pointless, now that I have a stainless steel fridge and have no place to put them!

A wander around town didn't turn up much of interest ... people come here to shop and apparently, for little else. There isn't an internet cafe in town, only a very expensive coin-operated ...

... in days of old. We had intended to spend the night near Lourdes but it was still sunny and the Pyrenees were beckoning us. After a great meal at an Italian restaurant near the main Tourist Info booth, we set PG for Andorra da Ville. The only word that came to mind, again, was Sugoi (the Japanese word for fantastic). Where yesterday we had no view of the mountains today they were all around us. The highway PG chose took us in to Spain through an amazing ...

... 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!

... a massive water park inside a massive silver church like structure, but that's literally all it has- that and ****** shops everywhere. Andorra considers itself one of the shopping capitals of the world, but its basically just the Potteries centre with a few fast food outlets and a national anthem. I ate my dinner at a combined KFC/Pizza Hutt outlet- basically this particularly **** idea consisted of setting up a joint franchise with a limited selection of both companies food ...

... 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 ...

... sack not much later. I speak for myself here as I have no idea when everyone else stopped, but I do know I was thankful not to have to share a double bed with 2 other people. The morning brings me little hope. I am hitch hiking with a German guy dressed as a Rastafarian. Great, we are never going to get a ride. We have to leave Andorra and then still have 130km to Perpignan. It takes 4 rides and 4km walk to get past the border, as well as a the ...

... nearly any other country. Wealthy Andorrans buy big sport-utility-vehicles, drive them for three months, and then sell them and buy new ones. A 21-year-old local named Romulo told me drugs are prevalent, and a friend of his died taking too much ecstasy. Andorra isn't a place that makes you feel good about life. When I looked in the mirror there, I looked like I was working too much and drinking too much and not breathing clean air. It's a place about money. But, alas, I ...