Country 71 - Andorra

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3 or 4 hours in Andorra

The Principality of Andorra is officially a sovereign landlocked micro-state nestled in the Pyrenees, it is a tiny country with an area of 468 km²and an estimated population of 85,000. Formed in A.D. 1278 it is known as a principality as it’s a monarchy headed by two Co-Princes – the Spanish/Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgell and the President of France.

I visited in August 2014 as part of a Modern Explorers trip to video Megaliths in the Pyrennes (see video below) but only passed through briefly. In that amount of time you can’t absorb much culture but to be honest being wedged between France and Spain it doesn’t really have much of a unique way of life anyway.

Andorra consists predominantly of mountains. The highest being the Coma Pedrosa at 2,942m, the average elevation of Andorra being 1,996m and the lowest point of 840m, Andorra la Vella is the highest capital city in Europe at an elevation of 1,023m above sea level.

Andorra's tourist industry serves an estimated 10.2 million visitors annually attracted by Andorra's duty-free status and by its resorts which account for roughly 80%!o(MISSING)f its GDP, mainly from ski resorts which total over 175 km of ski ground. This was very obvious driving through as there were endless towns that would have been ski resorts in the winter and there were petrol stations every 10 metres.

Other interesting stats include - The people of Andorra having one of the highest life expectancies in the world - 81 years old, two-thirds of the population is made up of citizens without Andorran nationality and the official language is Catalan, although Spanish, Portuguese, and French are also commonly spoken.

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Photos

Andorra
Most of Andorra was seen from the van that we used to tour the megaliths of the Pyennes

Andorra' Beautiful Scenery
There was some epic mountainous scenery

Soldeu
We stopped off in the small town of Soldeu...

Soldeu
...which was basically a ski resort

Flakes in Soldeu
My 71st country cornflakeifeid

Driving Through the Counrty
We were heading to a dolmen back on the Spanish side of the border

Driving Through the Counrty
We came to the capital Andorra la Vela...

Andorra la Vela
...but didn't bother stopping

A Typical Scene in the Pyrennes
Horses or cows on the road

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

On the road again.
Glad to see you blogging again.