Andorra as you have never imagined it
FRIDAY
**4:00 p.m. Leave your bags at Cal Cisco de Sans**
It is one of the first hotels in the country. It started working in 1866 , but the house itself is a 16th century hut , located in the old town of Andorra la Vella (a much more beautiful and authentic neighborhood than “shopping street”). It is a family hostel, with no more than six rooms, which already stood out for its hospitality at the beginning of the last century.
So he ran the business cisco from sans , a trajinero specialized in the transport of passengers. With the mule Xato he acted as a taxi driver for foreigners: for ten pesetas he took them wherever they wanted. All the tourists recommended his guide services. In addition, they rated abundant and good to the food of the inn. They didn't need more than three pesetas to get up from the table with their bellies more than full. Now is another proposal: dishes of traditional Andorran cuisine but in a tapa format.
Charming, cozy and authentic
From behind the bar Alan he advises us sausage mini hotdog . No less attractive is his letter of unprecedented cocktails: Montmalús is prepared with white tea, lemon, cinnamon and an ingredient native to these lands, the Carmeta Ratasia , a liqueur from the Pyrenees based on nuts and herbs. The plants have to macerate in alcohol for forty days in the sun. A recipe that has passed from grandmothers to granddaughters, with about 27º graduation.
If we like it, we can buy a bottle next door, at ** La Puça .** A bookstore/bar-restaurant where (apart from books) they sell typical products of the country, from natural cosmetics to Sispony jams, Aubinyà jams and a local delicacy: the fir cone syrup . "It is obtained from the cones of adult male fir trees", says Pep Escolà from the workshop of The Rebost of the Father . "It is known that the fir tree is male because the cones point to the sky and are at the top of the tree, and that it is adult because it is 20-25 meters long." They climb to the top of the cups to collect them. "We go up with a harness and gloves, because they are very sticky, and they are collected between August and September, before it freezes." But pineapples are like mushrooms: this year, with the drought, the harvest has not been very good. "Then we macerate them with sugar for seven to eight months, until March-April, and it forms like a honey, very rich ". All the flavor of the mountain in the mouth. "Formerly it was used for the constipated; It's not that it cured them, but it soothed the throat." Today, the syrup has found a new use in the kitchen. "In vinaigrettes, with ghee, with vanilla ice cream or with baked meat, it's delicious."
The Pyrenean liquor with which to become a 'pro' Andorran
We may not be hungry yet, but try one of the more than a thousand beers what do they have in The Birreria we may feel like it. "It is the third place with the most beers in Europe" . The first is in Brussels, and the second in Amsterdam. "But I'm the one who has the most beers per square meter," explains Xavi, in a well-used 28-square-meter tavern. "It is a meeting point for musicians" . There is a guitar and a cajon in a corner. "And when there's no live music, I play vinyl." Among so much beer there is no shortage of Andorran brands: Boris, Alpha and the one he makes himself: Trapella. "It's the name of my dog, a brie shepherd, that appears on the label." Pale Ales with peach, with boletus, with tobacco leaves, with lychees... "I never repeat recipes". For Christmas he is going to prepare a gingerbread edition. "I'm the beer geek." Save water. Drink beer , he puts on his shirt.
6:00 p.m. Night adventure in randonnée or snowshoes
It's already dark when we get to the Grau Roig . Marc, the guide, awaits us at the school of the slopes, in Grandvalira. Welcome coffee before trying on the material for the journey. "We have a store and you can rent it here." 20 liter backpack, helmet, boots, sticks, mountain skis and seal skins. "From the brand La Sportiva". All brand new. "Every season we renew it." Shovel probe and DVA (Avalanche Victim Detector), for safety.
Some basic advice before you start: progress with parallel skis , with the adequate separation so as not to fall; slide boards , do not lift them to save effort; be accompanied with the sticks and nail them at heel level . Calm rhythm. One-two, one-two. Divergent step and turn Maria. Marc will teach us what is that of the tip-tap . "On the forest path there are few conversions. It is a flat route, very easy. But people are a little scared, because our bodies are not used to going through the mountains at night. It is not fear, it is nerves. The atmosphere of isolation, which gives respect". The cold and vulnerability of the human being is felt in the crisp silence. Snow growls. Scary squirrel footprint. Two tiny spotlights shine. They have been left on by an unsuspecting fox. He has gone out after a hare, hunting. "The one with the most funk is the last one" . As a rule, he is the one the bear will eat.
Cirque des Pessons (crossing in Randonné)
The restaurant where you dine is on the banks of the Estany Primer . “It is a must-see space for any good gourmet.” Grilled wagyu beef competes with genuine beef on the menu. To get there, you cross the surface of the frozen water. "There are seven glacial lakes in total." And who knows how many lagoons, rafts and ponds more. They meet at the Pessons circus, the largest lake meeting in the country, surrounded by refractory peaks. "That one over there is the one in Montmalús, the one in Pessons, the one in Ribuls and the one in Cubil." Resplendent in the light of the stars. Dazzling with the full moon. "We go down with a front. The descent is the most complicated, but we go through a blue track, and there is the possibility of returning in retraction ". Refers to a snow groomer tour . "The Bony de Envalira circuit is also very cool. There is one of the most powerful via ferrata in Andorra. It is a more alpine route, with very aerial steps, but with less forest. And we end up at the Hotel Iglú, with a fondue" . In case anyone wants to sleep cool, in an ice room.
SATURDAY
10:00 a.m. Scenic helicopter flight
The pilot tells heliand , Samuel, that Andorra from the air has nothing to do with it. "From up there it's much smaller…" Even smaller?? " In twenty minutes you have practically turned it around" . It is the longest route they offer aboard a AS350 B3 Ecureil . The journey costs 135 euros per head, full cockpit: minimum four people, maximum five. "There are shorter flights, ten and fifteen minutes." At 75 and 105 euros each. "If the weather is bad or it's very overcast, we prefer to give customers their money back, because we want it to be an unforgettable experience." Radiant sky assured.
" We see the mountains as we have never seen them before , passing flush with the crests, flying over lagoons, penetrating deep valleys. For me, autumn is when it is most beautiful. The lights of Madriu are impressive". It is a glacial valley, superb for being the only Andorran landscape that is a World Heritage Site. The winter suit suits you just as splendidly. "When we pass through the pines, it gives the effect of being in Canada" . Approach to the Pessons circus. Turn towards Soldeu. Heading to Coll de Ordino. A spike is coming. Go up, go up, go up... and you can't go higher. 2,942 meters. It is Comapedrosa, the highest peak in the Principality. The pieces of slate do not look so white. They note intemperate, to the lakes. Especially that of Més Amunt dels Forcats, which is the highest. They are frozen. Estany Negre and Estany de les Truites around here; Montmantell, Port Dret and Forcats beyond. Which will be which… "I always tell people not to film or photograph, to watch." Samuel has been flying for 16 of his 40 years. "It's not a job, it's a pleasure, a passion."
Who can resist this experience?
11:00 a.m. choose your own adventure
Once the aerial reconnaissance is done, you have to make a choice: **spend the day on the slopes of Grandvalira** (the largest ski area in the Pyrenees) **or in Vallnord** (smaller, without hotel complexes or crowds, and with much better snow quality due to its orientation to the north, especially in the Ordino-Arcalís sector).
In either of the two stations it is possible to sign up for private skiing and snowboarding lessons, as well as snowshoeing and mushing , drive snowmobiles and buggies, dare with heliski and speedride (ski paragliding) or jump down the slope on a mattress or with a giant float (it's fun and doesn't require many skills).
2:00 p.m. Gastro experience in the snow
Either of the two stations also has different restaurants, cafes and terraces where you can take a break and eat. Especially in Grandvalira, as it is more designed for tourists. From food-retracs to the restaurants of the ** Sport Hotel Hermitage **, which have two Michelin star chefs at the helm: Hideki Matsuhisa and Nandu Jubany. "Each restaurant has its DNA" , says the head chef, Fran Jiménez. "El Sol i Neu is a hut at the foot of the slopes with the forceful cuisine of a lifetime: a trinxat, a steak or a chicken that you can smell from a distance when it is roasted over the wood on the terrace". Then there are the nyumen with Iberian secret from the Japanese restaurant and the cardinal macaroni from Arrels. A Dry Martini as an aperitif with something to nibble on GlassBar, and the great gastronomic bet of the house: the Origens. The best thing here is to order the tasting menu with which the hotel is celebrating its tenth anniversary. "We have selected the ten best dishes of these ten years, such as puff pastry with foie, rice with espardenyes, cannelloni or pumpkin gnocchi with white truffle." And for dessert… " A brioche baba with cream and vanilla ice cream with burnt rum ". They flambé it at the table, in front of the client. "A restaurant is sensations, you come to be surprised".
To complete the experience, at the Hermitage there is a wellness center with beauty and wellness treatments, water circuit and sauna. The outdoor bathtub steams up. Relax at 1,850 meters of altitude . Gondola lift going up... Gondola lift going down... Not so many years ago, there was nothing in these mountains. Only transhumance shepherds and travelers coming from France passed through Soldeu. They spent the night in some house in the town, where four ranchers lived. They improvised a humble inn as lodging. This is how those from Cal Calbó (and so many others) became hoteliers.
outdoor hot tub
**5:30 p.m. Sun and Moon excursion (for those who choose the Vallnord option) **
Foolishly, foolishly, the sun begins to hide. We have an appointment with Jordi in the Gica , a military vehicle with which to explore the mountain. "It's like a tank, an amphibian with caterpillar traction. It goes anywhere: through the snow, through the rocks, through the water, through the forest... There is nothing to stop it." The route starts in Planells (below, where you can buy the ski passes). "People freak out when we go up the track, and without being cold inside." The cars have capacity for sixteen people … people or whatever you want, as rumor has it that the first Gica to arrive in Andorra was used for smuggling, in the 1990s. "That's what I've heard, but I haven't seen it."
Show through the window. The heron hour Here the snow is not white: it is purple, then bluish. A flash inflamed with will-o'-the-wisp. A placid deception. A fabulously placid deception. Sublime point in the O, a giant steel ring (with a diameter of 12 meters) that the sculptor Marco Staccioli placed in a gazebo. A monument that defies gravity and time. He'll come rolling down the ravine when the clock starts ticking again. homicidal alarm clock Stop it!
"We stopped at the Port del Rat cave and there we had a warm wine." More than a cave, it is a half tunnel. It was going to connect Andorra with the Ariège. Drilling began in the eighties, about two hundred meters deep, but the project never saw the light of day. " We have illuminated the grotto with LED strips ", so that the ice speleothems can be clearly distinguished. The journey takes between 60 and 90 minutes and it costs 33 euros for adults.
A spectacle of landscapes in an amphibious vehicle to move through the ice and snow
**6:00 p.m. Visit to the Casa Cristo Ethnographic Museum (for those coming from Grandvalira) **
It smells of wood, of an old house. Robert has lit the fireplace. He has everything ready to show us how an Andorran lived at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th. "Electricity didn't come until 1922." That is why the guided tour is done by candlelight. "The Christs were a modest family..." The grandmothers of Encamp (the town where the museum is located) told him their memories to fill with history a house that had been abandoned for years. "In the thirties, Mercè and Florentina, the daughters, emigrated to France. They got married in Béziers and Perpignan and only came to Andorra to spend the summer." A calendar hanging on the wall flickers. 1947. "In '95, the grandchildren sold the manor house to the town hall, with all the furniture inside." The floorboards whimper. " It's all wood . It was the cheapest material and the one that gave more heat. They cut it to coincide with the last full moon of winter, which is when the sap is hardest."
Superstition: at the entrance there is a sacred heart, a horseshoe for good luck and a laurel palm to keep witches away . "They covered the walls with plaster. Only the huts and the very poor houses left the stone uncovered." The façade of the Christs ran out of budget. "It was a self-sufficient house, they did everything for themselves." Removable party walls, from when DIY was not a hobby. On the first floor is the kitchen-living room-dining room. "In the cupboard they placed the best cutlery in sight". Fine porcelain. The cups of coffee in the front line. "It was a very exclusive product, it was not drunk every day." Like stale wine and Jolonch chocolate. "They only took it out on special dates like Christmas." hidden in a closet, the daily crockery . A slab sink with no water for scrubbing. The women went to look for her at the river or at the Tremat spring. "They were dedicated to agriculture and livestock." Tobacco leaves to dry. A esparvel to fish. The cage of a claim that no longer sings and a shotgun, by legal imperative . "All hereu (mayorazgo) is obliged to have one at home. The Law says so". It is in case the Somatén calls him a levy, because, in the absence of an Andorran army, it is half the people (men of legal age) who have the power to take up arms in case of national emergency. If a sovereign invasion occurs, it is to be expected that the neighboring armies will support them, since this is a shared principality for a reason.
"The animals slept downstairs, in the court." What used to be the stable is now the reception. "And Grandma slept in the room right above me, because she was the warmest." Two mattresses: one made of straw and the other made of wool. A scorcher to warm the bed. And a urinal, essential. "Mrs. Cadena was very presumptuous." She wore the rustic granny look: austere black suit and headscarf. "There was only one closet for the whole house." A closet with secret drawers. "This here is where they kept the money." Someone left loose change: five pesetas from the Republic and francs from the war. "The most valuable thing in the house was the pittance they kept in the pantry. It was the only door that was closed under five bolts!"
The visit ends with a traditional snack around the fire: bread with tomato, bringuera, donja... and, if we are lucky, stone-baked chocolate. Advance booking is required, it costs five euros and is part of the Rural Habitat Itinerary, which is completed with the House of Areny-Plandolit (in Ordino) and the House Rull (in La Massana).
Casa Cristo Ethnographic Museum
7:00 p.m. urban disconnect
If we have chosen the Vallnord option and have not yet taken a bath in a spa, we will spend the afternoon in Chaldea , the largest spa center in Europe, with Jacuzzis, Roman baths, heated pools, waterfalls... that require about twenty-five cubic meters of hot water per day. supplies it, at 70ºC, the source of the Roc del Metge . It is one of the more than thirty medicinal springs in Escaldes, a town with a long spa tradition, because it has a fault below it. Although the thermal offer at the beginning of the last century did not include grapefruit baths or shiatsu, nor did it include a hamman or water shows. They only offered a zinc tub. Water rich in minerals and sulfur came out of the faucet, yes.
For those who have already enjoyed their hydrotherapy session before, it's time to go shopping. They only close four days a year: January 1; to celebrate the Constitution , March 14; on September 8, which is the Meritxell National Festival , and the December 25th . Without intending to demolish Andorra's fame as a shopping paradise, the truth is that the price difference with Spain is not that great anymore. One advantage is that here the winter sales are brought forward a couple of weeks. In any case, a shopping center is a suitable refuge when it gets cold and your distemper begins to fall.
There is also heating in the museums (and with the Passmuseu They also give you discounts). Saving (a lot) the distances, Carlemany avenue will be like a kind of Paseo del Prado in Andorra when next March a Thyssen opens in the Principality, in front of the ** Center d'Art d'Escaldes-Engordany ** and near from the Art al Roc exhibition hall. "Fiscally, Andorra is a good place to set up as an art gallery", says Albert, from the gallery Earring . Until January, they have a Street art show with works by Suso 33, Okuda San Miguel and Sixe Paredes. "The previous one was an exhibition with engravings of Goya's Disasters." The sale of art here is taxed with a reduced tax of 1%. In Spain it is 21, and in France, 19.5. "The most valuable piece we have is this Miró." Woman and Bird (1960), hung between a Dalí and a Picasso.
Art al Roc
10:00 p.m. gourmet dinner
Salvador Dalí also came shopping in Andorra (we know who sold him the neon leopard underpants and socks) . In the Plaza de la Rotonda is one of its soft clocks in monumental bronze sculpture format (4.90 meters high and 1,400 kilos). Noblesse du temps. The Nobility of the times melting like cheese… The artist himself revealed on one occasion that the idea for this series came to him after having a Camembert dinner. It is no longer a coincidence that right next door there is a restaurant specializing in raclettes and fondues: ** El Refugi Alpí .** They have Roquefort, boletus, pesto... and chocolate, the queen of desserts.
If you are looking for a cheaper fast food place, there is no reason to end up in a McDonald's. In andburgerzero you can taste Andorran beef in homemade hamburgers made in a wood oven. And which one is more original: the Roque-figa has caramelised onion, bacon, fig jam, endive and Roquefort; teriyaki is prepared with pineapple, bacon, gouda, teriyaki sauce, mayonnaise and wasabi; they have one with mango, mozzarella and lamb's lettuce; another based on duck foie gras, apple compote and Port reduction… So up to eight. The Escaldes restaurant is on the street Francois Mitterrand No. 6 , and that of Andorra la Vella in the Street Cap No. 9.
11:00 p.m. The last (or penultimate) drink
Along the walk along the Valira River, near the Central Park, you get to The Ignorant Fairy . There we find Dean. " Dean, by James Dean ". It is Toni's schnauzer, the owner of this theater cafe where gin and tonics are combined with non-commercial music and small-format shows, from monologues and storytelling to jam sessions. IZAL or Rozalen before they were famous. Or Chivo Chivato, from La Cabra Mecánica, do you remember? Last month the Glaucs came , and recently we had Rebeca Jiménez presenting her latest album, and Virginia Maestro, who has come out of the triumphant format and I really like what she's doing." Madretomasa is one of her favorite native groups. "They're the best there is in Andorra, the truth. What happens in this country is that there is a lack of cultural consumption ; this is not like Barcelona or Madrid, and it is difficult to get ahead with a place of this class".
Harlem It is another of the few pubs that bet on live concerts, from rock and jazz to parties and heavy metal. It is next to the Valley House (former seat of the Andorran Parliament), and get back to the hostel.
Countdown to the opening of Andburgerzero in Grandvalira
SUNDAY
**10:00 a.m. A puff at the Tobacco Museum **
"Sant Julià de Lòria once had seven tobacco factories, and look how small the town was…" says Déborah Ribas from the old Reig tobacco factory, in operation until 1957. "All the neighbors have had some relationship with tobacco" . Her family (one of the oldest in the country) started making cigarettes when packs were not yet a business, but a means of subsistence. "Even the nuns made caliqueños! This was a lost world, completely isolated. Think that the Seu highway was not built until 1911..." This museum keeps a memory of those times. "Only the memory remains... And that people continue to come to Andorra to buy tobacco." Which is a quarter of state revenue.
11:00 a.m. Safari in Naturland
In addition to being a point frequented by tobacco smugglers, La Rabassa (as Naturlandia was previously known) is the only Nordic ski slope in Andorra. But since it doesn't snow as much anymore, due to the recent warm winters, it has been transformed into a multi-adventure park. The star of attractions in a five kilometer slide (the longest of its kind in the world) . There are activities with sledges, snowshoes, snowmobiles, zip lines, archery, paintball... And in the forest, a voyeur space to observe how they coexist bears, wolves, deer, lynx, marmots and chamois in their natural habitat.
We also come across gorillas, elephants and even tyrannosaurs heading back down the road . But these animals are not real, as anyone will have already inferred. They are sculptures by the artist Ángel Calvente, which populate the gardens of the Juberri village. It becomes strange... to see a penguin, a kangaroo or a panda in the middle of the Pyrenean landscape.
2:00 p.m. Lunch in a Spanish village… within Andorra!
Ós de Civís is a town in Lérida, but the only way to get there by road is from Sant Julià de Lòria. A rarity of second homes and ghost neighbors that show up only on weekends. There is a souvenir shop and a hostel where you can eat escudella and grilled meats . Although a sign wants to convince us that "at the entrance we find numerous shops, restaurants and hotels" and that "the tourist offer is wide and varied". It is also read that "The town still preserves the charm of the traditional stone and slate houses and the cobbled streets" . This is true. Perhaps, due to its isolation...
Legend has it that, long, long, long ago, there was a dispute between the people of Ós and those of Andorra, due to the dispute over a hill . The altercation was resolved as disputes were once resolved: with fists. For the fight, those from Ós chose a tall and stocky fighter; the Andorrans, a skinny little boy who, with great agility and without brute force, managed to knock down his opponent, although at first no one would give him two quarters. So… beware of small States!
Follow @MeritxellAnfi
Andorran print