Dana & I are currently in Lithuania, enjoying the good weather in the coast town of Klaipeda, before heading out onto the Curonian Spit tomorrow. The Spit is shared by Lithuania and Russia, and back in July, we visited another shared land: ANDORRA! After we'd soaked up the sun on the Costa Brava, Dana & I wanted to hike in the mountains. (That is to say, *I* wanted to hike in the mountains and Dana agreed, provided she got just a little more time on the sun-kissed coastline of Cadaques to work on her tan.) With the Pyrenees close by, we jumped in our little Citron and sped off towards one of the only co-principalities in the world!


Sandwitched right in between France and Spain, Andorra is tiny -- only 180 square miles and most of that is mountains. Dana & I drove up straight north from La Seu d'Urgell, the only road to Andorra from Spain. Basically, back in the 800's, Charlemagne granted a charter to the Andorran people in return for their fighting the Moors. Governance of the territory eventually passed to the bishop of the diocese of Urgell. In the 11th century a dispute arose between the bishop and his northern French neighbor over Andorra. In 1278, the conflict was finally resolved by the signing of a parage, which provided that Andorra's sovereignty be shared between the French count of Foix (ultimately the French head of state) and the bishop of La Seu d'Urgell, in Catalonia, Spain. This gave the small principality its territory and political form. With a few twists and turns, Andorra has lasted another 700+ years as much -- shared by France and Spain. Still, it was only with recent advances in transportation and communication (which in turn helped boost the thriving tourist industry) that Andorra was finally admitted into the United Nations in 1993.


So over 9 million tourists visit Andorra each year, but as Dana & I found out, a vast majority of them came only to shop. With no taxes to speak of, everything in Andorra is duty free. The capital Andorra de Vella was packed with stores featuring all imaginable consumer goods and products, mostly expensive things like electronics, jewelry and designer clothes. Traffic on the small streets was a nightmare with touristas everywhere. We got out of town as soon as possible.


The few tourists that don't come to Andorra for shopping come for the mountains. The principality sits in two small valley ringed on all sides by the Pyrenees. In winter, the ski resorts are apparently extremely busy, but in summer, the vibe was distinctively more laid back. In fact, there was pretty much no one around when Dana and I rolled into Arinsal, a small ski village north of the busy capital. Already 4pm, we checked into a nice but inexpensive hotel, then grabbed the gondola to the top of the mountain.


So we were high above it all, hiking in the Pyrenees! We just hit the ground and kept on hiking. There were almost no tourists around down in Arinsal and there were exactly zero up in the mountains at 4pm. It a welcome respite from busy Barcelona and Spain -- just us, the sun streaming through the clouds and the mountains all around us. Later we saw a sheperd herding his sheep and a few mountain bikers but we were pretty much all alone. Wonderful.


Dana and I climbed for a while pretty much straight up. We hiked almost 2,000 vertical feet -- from Comallemple, the top of the gondola and base of the ski lodge, at 6,400 feet to a little bit below the top of Pic Alt de la Cara at 8,400 feet. The scenery was breathtaking and the weather was gorgeous, although clouds were rolling in being so late in the day.


It was after 6pm when we descended and the gondola was already closed for the day. We didn't mind however -- we simply hiked the rest of the way down to Arinsal on some rocky mountain bike trails. We finally made it back to the hotel and grabbed a bite to eat on the deck with the sunlight fading.


The next morning, Dana and I had a homemade breakfast on the beautiful balcony of our room, which looked out over the same gondola and mountains as the day before. Always satisfying to look up and say "I've been up there!" What a great way to start the day!


With no real time to spare before we were due back in Barcelona, Dana and I waved goodbye to Arinsal after breakfast and sped off in the Citron for Catalonia. It was a brief visit but a memorable one. I can truly say Andorra is one of the best self-governing principalities I have ever visited and surely the best in between France and Spain! Until next time...