Hotel Princep Escaldes-Engordany

... ve got to give some credit to a city that gave Gaudi license. They might have lost that gamble, but no, tourists come in by the busloads to take pictures of the cherubim and seraphim and… themselves. The Arc is interesting, too, made out of brick, so not a copy of the French model like every other one I’ve seen. That’s something Spain has in common with Poland, I guess, the copious use of brick. They also have a ...

... 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:

... clueless - loud, obnoxious, and a little bit ignorant - "So what's there to do in Barcelona? We heard it was boring and there's nothing to do here but lie on the beach." What??? It's one of the most dynamic cities in the world!!!

Had a difficult time sleeping, as I had a horrible coughing fit for much of the night, so I was feeling ****** in the morning. Had breakfast with a couple of Aussie guys in the room, and the one guy said "Yeah, I heard ...

... Lourdes Live Feed (yep I'm not kidding) web site and saw a sea of umbrellas. By the time we arrived it was hot and sunny. It wasn't busy either which meant we had lots of opportunity to wander along the pilgrims walk, visit the grotto and the churches, light candles, pray and just absorb the intensity of this amazing place. It is humbling to watch the pilgrims, many of them severly disabled, patiently waiting to touch the rock and drink from the water ...

Probably like you, I had no idea there was a country located between France and Spain. Well, turns out there is - a beautiful little country located in the middle of the Pyrenees mountains called Andorra. Though the smallest European country, it has the second longest life expectancy of any country in the world and is renowned for ...

... The pizza wasn't too bad, but I accidentally ordered a non-alcoholic San Miguel to go with it and didn't realise until I'd taken the first swig. Poisoned. I then wandered up to an internet café to see if I could find any information about drinking in Andorra- I had to have a beer there on principle alone. Wikitravel didn't list any drinking and European Irish (basically a website listing Irish pubs) basically said all the nightlife was in the mountains. This was backed up by a ...

... down the hill - bad idea. The visibility was very low and the snow was coming down cold and fast and the wind didn't help also. We walk for roughly half an hour before finding a lay by to stop in and it takes a matter of minutes to get a lift from a French guy. One the way down the mountain there is a T junction where one way heads towards Perpignan and the other back to France the way we came. Our driver is adamant that going with him back to ...

... taking us over the border questioning us if we are carrying drugs. No I wasn't, obviously. It takes us a further 5 rides to make the 100km to Perpignan, and the final of which was 80km, il leave the rest unsaid. It was a long and slow journey. But at least we made it. The two guys were unable to make it so took the last 100km by train, which did mean I got to visit 'the centre of the universe' as the train station claimed. Now I have seen everything.

... t wait to call up his mom and tell her that I was there with him. As such, we made plans that I would visit her in Vigo. Oh, how times barely passed. Eight years isn't much, but it's almost a third of my life. And to think I only spent 6 months over there too, only two percent of my life. To show me around, we decided to go on the path behind the flat near the creek. Cris was there, as well as Lluis' girlfriend. Cris is actually from Brazil, so we took the ...