Andorra

On our return trip from France, we decided to spend a night in Andorra. We didn't know anything about Andorra, we just noticed it on the map so we thought we would head that way. After winding up a mountain path for about an hour, I started to wonder if this was such a good idea. It was starting to get dark, we hadn't seen that many cars, and we hadn't made any reservations. Andorra is not part of the EU. Could that mean that there were Andorran rebels hiding in the mountains? Was this a country filled with Andorran shanty towns that didn't have nice hotels? My concerns were not alleviated when we finally reached the Andorrian border. It was a mountain pass with nothing much around and there was a HUGE line of cars trying to get out of Andorra with practically no one going the other direction. After being waved right through customs (they didn't even look at our passports), we continued onward in the dark for about half an hour going higher and higher into the Pyrenees. Eventually we reached our first Andorran town which was a relief because it looked like a little ski village. We decided to continue on and after winding our way through some more mountains, we reached a place that was larger and looked like it had nice accommodations.

This was a very mountainous area. Everything was built clinging to steep slopes. In fact, when we went to park the car we had to corkscrew down a tunnel 3 times before it opened up into the parking area. We joked about being sent to the Andorian mining pits to park and my wife practiced her Volcan greeting of “Live long and prosper” (with the two fingered V). She then left me to take the elevator back up to the reception area while I stayed with the sleeping children. We soon confirmed that we had left France when my wife came back and said that they wouldn't allow us to take our dog to the room.

A little further down the road we did find a hotel that would take pets. It actually didn't take pets but they made an exception because it was before ski season and they still had plenty of vacancies. The place we stayed was extremely nice and very inexpensive. Breakfast was even included. I later found out that Andorra is known for its great deals and duty free shopping.

The next day we followed the one main road out into Spain. It is hard to believe that a country could exist that is so small it doesn't even have one airport. The whole country is built in mountains around one road. As far as I know, there is only one entrance in Spain and one entrance in France. The Andorrans must have been very adept at balancing the interests of the French and the Spanish not to get gobbled up by either country. Next time we go back, we'll have to try to talk with more Andorrans to find out their history.

One final note was that it did take forever to get back into Spain. We must have been stuck for over an hour as we tried to cross the border. I think the Spanish and French do this on purpose, just to keep too many people from availing of the duty free shopping.