© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

We have visited Andorra several times since we moved to France. Richard loves driving, and the roads from home to Andorra are fantastic. They are all curves and hairpin bends, through the mountains with lovely scenery, not that he gets to appreciate any of it as his eyes are always sharply focused on the road! We usually drive through a tunnel, we are happy to pay the toll unlike practically ever other motorist, and it saves time. Andorra consists of seven communities, Andorra la Vella, Canillo, Encamp, Escaldes-Engordany, La Massana, Ordino and Sant Julia de Loria. As you get closer to Andorra la Vella there are three villages that have all merged together, Santa Coloma, Andorra la Vella and Escaldes-Engordany, is is quite difficult to see where one begins and one ends. This is where the shopping can commence.

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Andorra has an interesting history, apparently Charlemagne granted a charter to the people of Andorra in return for their fighting the Moors. Overlordship of this area passed to the local count of Urgell and then on to the bishop of the diocese of Urgell. During the eleventh century a dispute arose over Andorra between the bishop and his northern French neighbour. In 1278 all was resolved with the signing of a parage, which ensured that Andorra's sovereignty be shared between the French count of Foix (this title would transfer to the French head of state) and the bishop of La Seu d'Urgell in Catalonia. This gave Andorra its territory and political form. Later the title passed on to the Kings of Navarre. After Henry of Navarre became King Henry IV of France he issued an edict in 1607, establishing the head of the French state and the Bishop of Urgell as co princes of Andorra. During 1812-1813 the French Empire annexed Catalonia dividing it into four departments. Andorra was also annexed and made part of the district of Puigcerda - department of Segre. In 1933 France occupied Andorra due to social unrest before elections. Then on 12th July 1934 Boris Skossyreff, an adventurer issued a proclamation in Urgell declaring himself Boris I sovereign prince of Andorra, declaring war on the bishop of Urgell. Boris was arrested by the Spanish authorities on 20th July and expelled from Spain. During 1936-1940 a French detachment was garrisoned in Andorra to prevent influences of the Spanish Civil War and Franco's Spain. Franco's troops reached the border at the later part of the war. Andorra remained neutral during the Second World War, becoming an important smuggling route between Vichy France and Spain. Andorra declared peace with Germany in 1958, as it had been forgotten on the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War and remained legally at war. Considering its isolation Andorra has existed outside the mainstream of European history, having few ties with other countries apart from France and Spain. In 1993 its political system was thoroughly modernized and Andorra finally became a member of the United Nations. More recently Andorra has become a thriving tourist industry as well as developments in transportation and communications. Tourism actually accounts for 80% of GDP. Approximately 9 million tourist visit Andorra annually, attracted to the area for its duty free shopping and of course its winter resorts.

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We are not into skiing, we go to Andorra for the shopping. Basically as soon as you begin to approach Andorra along the main road both sides of the street are lined with shops. These shops sell everything, from clothes, shoes, household goods, electrical to perfumes and jewellery. We have visited Andorra as a day trip, returning home the same day and we have also stayed overnight on a couple of occasions, we have also taken some of our guests there overnight. We stayed at the same hotel each time, as after our first stay there we liked it. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza which is a little further out of town compared to some of the other chains, like the Mercure etc. Originally we had booked our accommodation online and we were pleasantly surprised with the rooms on arrival. I think all of the rooms are suites, at least that's what we have always been allocated. I have read some unfavourable reviews about this hotel online and equally some excellent ones, so I am a bit confused. Maybe we are getting our hotels mixed up? Anyway, I am very fussy and I like this hotel, it is clean, well run by multi-lingual staff, with everything you could possibly want or need, including an underground car park, which is why we booked this hotel initially. I have since noticed that some of the other hotels have underground parking too, but they seemed busier so we stick with this place. Admittedly I don't think that the food is anything to get excited about but then we only ever ate there on one occasion anyway. During one stay at this hotel when we had taken some relatives there, they were tired in the evening and didn't feel like venturing out again so they ate dinner at the hotel. I think there is a choice of buffet or a la carte, they said the food was nice. There are so many good bars and restaurants in Andorra that we like to eat out when we visit. The last time we visited we had a delicious lunch, unfortunately I can't remember the name of the restaurant. I do remember the food though, there were lots of fondue type dishes which seemed very popular, several of the tables near to ours were occupied by people cooking their own dishes of various meats and vegetables. I also remember that the tables, we were seated at a table for two, were absolutely massive. I couldn't see Richard that clearly, he was so far away! The menus were huge too, I don't mean the amount of dishes offered I mean the actual size of the menu, they were so big and heavy you had to seriously rearrange yourself to be able to read them. The service was excellent as was the food, so good that unusually for us we went out the same evening for dinner as we wanted to repeat the delicious food experience. So we took a slow stroll back into town, about 5-10 minutes, and after reading some restaurant menus we decided on a restaurant at the Art Hotel, which was very busy. Thankfully they had a couple of tables available outside on the terrace which overlooked the river. Apparently they have a fifth floor restaurant too, or so I have read since we visited. Art Hotel Andorra is located on the main shopping street of Andorra la Vella alongside the river and a park. The restaurant is modern, light and airy, with a good food menu a lovely wine menu and excellent staff. We were there for over four hours, eating, drinking and watching people arrive dine and leave, the atmosphere was just so welcoming and relaxing that we didn't want to leave, so we kept ordering more wine! As well as good food and wine there was one bit of excitement when some fireworks from across the water started lighting up the sky. All of the diners outside on the terrace were happily sitting watching them when suddenly the laughter and smiles turned to fear, a rogue rocket came hurtling onto the terrace narrowly missing some rather concerned diners. Thankfully no one was hurt, but it did make a big mess of the table linen, well it was getting quite chilly by now so I guess someone thought that us al fresco diners might need warming up! After a good nights sleep we were out again to do some more shopping. As well as all of the smaller shops there is a good department store in Andorra called Roca & Ribes where you can buy a wide selection of goods including many well known brands. On our first visit to Andorra we bought a car full of Alessi stuff as it was so much cheaper than where we live. We always come home with a boot full of goodies from our shopping trips to Andorra, as well as luxury items we like to stock up on the duty free cigarettes and booze too. We usually buy the cigarettes and drink after we leave the main Andorra la Vella shopping area on the way back home to France. There is an area on the main road with just a few shops, one of which sells cigs and drink, another sells perfumes and across the road is a very large several storey shop that caters for passing tourists. It is in the tourist shop that you can purchase the usual tourist tat as well as more regular goods such as lamps, ornaments and they have an excellent selection of animal hides. The main ones are cow hides, which are a quarter of the price as a shop in the next village, you can also buy other various hides from smaller animals like springbok etc and they have lots of sheepskins too. We always visit Andorra during the low season, although we haven't been for quite a long time now, but I am sure we will go again once all of the snow has melted and most of the visitors have left. We both like Andorra very much and would recommend this small landlocked country for a good overnight break.

Oceania