The small country of Andorra is smacked in the middle of the Pyrenees Mountains bordered by France and Spain. It was a good day trip destination from Barcelona and the scenic two and a half hour drive was worth it.
My friends and I drove to Andorra after spending a couple of hours in Montserrat. This was a good way to utilize our time and our rental car.
The drive was pretty easy except for the part where the road got really curvy and I was closed to having a vertigo. Thanks to my friend Will for driving our little stick shift European rental car through the Pyrenees Mountains and for limiting the whiplash effect his braking skills would have caused through out the journey.
Going through border patrol was easy as well. They barely checked our passports and let us through without any hitch.
I admit I didn’t research anything about what to do or see in Andorra. I figured it’s a pretty small place and all we have to do is get there. When traveling to cities, the one thing I learned was as long as you get to its main street, you’ll be ok. There were also tons of signs in the city and those were really helpful.
Andorra la Vella is the capital city and it’s where the majority of the tourism is.
Andorra reminds me of a quaint little town where everybody knows everybody, except that its main street is lined up with big shopping stores. For some reason, I felt like it was Christmas in October. The streets were decorated and the atmosphere was just festive.
Apparently, there were two big events that day: Andorra Shopping Festival (Yes, they have a shopping festival!) and a soccer match (or should I say fùtbol?) between Andorra and Belgium which turned out to be the highlight of that trip.
The last time I witnessed such fun soccer atmosphere was in Frankfurt last year. Europeans and soccer. I love it!
The city was taken over by passionate soccer fans donning their respective team jerseys. My friends and I also had a hard time looking for a restaurant because most of the establishments observe siesta hours. Again, story of my life. But we were lucky to find a pub that was still open and to make it more fun, it was swarmed by Belgians!
This was my kind of crowd. Ok, just kidding…a little. I was just so fascinated and entertained by their chants and cheers and mini street performances.
Belgium won that match by the way. I still have yet to watch a live soccer game in Europe. That needs to happen soon! As you can see, I was surrounded by victorious merry men.
I loved the diversity and the multi-lingual culture of its people. Even though Catalan is its official language, Spanish, French and Portuguese are commonly spoken as well. Andorra is also not a member of the European Union but the currency used is euro.
I’m glad I was able to visit Andorra and also see the magnificent Pyrenees Mountains!
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Jen is a Chicago-based traveler and creative. She is a full-time development & communications executive specializing in non-profit organizations. Originally from the East Coast, she created The Jetsetter as a place to share her travel stories and photos with friends and family. Now, it is a place for adventurers and dreamers. Its purpose is to inspire and encourage busy professionals to see the world and achieve a better work-life balance.
Looks like a beautiful town!
So jealous!!!!
The town was lovely! 🙂