September 2023. Oriol and I are flying to Toulouse for a road trip in Occitania and (French) Catalonia. We include the Principality of Andorra, which I can finally tick off the bucket list, and Llívia, Spain‘s exclave in France. Besides Toulouse we visit Mont-Louis, Villefranche-de-Conflent, Perpignan and Carcassonne.
In the Principality of Andorra, we stayed in the capital Andorra la Vella. What do you do in Andorra la Vella? (Window) shopping!
Andorra la Vella is also the name of the parish that surrounds the capital. As of 2015, the city has a population of 22,886, and the urban area, which includes Escaldes-Engordany plus satellite villages, has over 40,000 inhabitants.
The principal industry is tourism, although the country also earns foreign income from being a tax haven. Furniture and brandies are local products. Being at an elevation of 1,023 m (3,356 ft), it is the highest capital city in Europe and a popular ski resort.
The Town
Andorra la Vella means “Andorra the Town“, to distinguish it from the Principality of Andorra as a whole. Although in Catalan the word vella (like French vieille) is derived from the Latin word vetula which means “old”, the Vella here (like French ville and Catalan vila) is derived from the Latin word villa and means “town”.
History
The site of Andorra la Vella has been settled since prior to the Christian era—notably by the Andosin tribe from the late Neolithic. The state is one of the Marca Hispanica created and protected by Charlemagne in the eighth century as a buffer from the Moorish settlers in the Iberian Peninsula.
The settlement of Andorra la Vella has been the principal city of Andorra since 1278 when the French and the Episcopal co-princes agreed to joint suzerainty. Andorra la Vella’s old town, the Barri Antic, includes streets and buildings dating from this time. Its most notable building is the Casa de la Vall, constructed in the early sixteenth century, which has been the state’s parliamentary house since 1702.
Andorra la Vella was, during this period, the capital of a largely isolated and feudal state, which retained its independence due to this principle of co-sovereignty.
Well into the twentieth century, the area around Andorra la Vella remained largely forgotten. After political turmoil in the 1930s and an attempted coup by Boris Skossyreff, an informal democracy developed.
In 1993, the country’s first constitution formalised this parliamentary democracy with executive, legislative, and judicial branches located in Andorra la Vella.
During this period, Andorra also developed as a tax haven, resulting in the construction of modern banking offices in Andorra La Vella.
The city also developed its skiing facilities, to the extent that Andorra la Vella was Andorra’s applicant city for the XXI Olympic Winter Games, the 2010 Winter Olympics. However, Andorra la Vella was not selected by the IOC as a candidate city, following the evaluation report of an IOC commission. It also hosted both the 1991 and 2005 Games of the Small States of Europe.
The Shopping Mile
Being a tax haven (of some sorts), many Spaniards and French come to Andorra to buy tax free products. Cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, tobacco and items prohibited elsewhere such as tasers, knives and pepper spray. Another popular type of store is sporting goods and outerwear stores.
There are countless pharmacies and even more cosmetics stores. Julia is the predominant chain of cosmetics shops in Andorra.
The main shopping street in Andorra la Vella is the Avinguda Meritxell (Meritxell Avenue), which becomes the the Avinguda Carlemany (Charlemagne Avenue) once you cross the Carretera General 3 (CG3) or General Road 3 into Escaldes.
Notable features
- The Pont de Paris is a main artory.
- The Plaça de la Rotunda crosses the Gran Valira River.
- Pink strings or whatever you call these things. We saw similar things in Toulouse.
- Pedestrian traffic lights on the ground for everyone focused on their phone, like me.
- The Andorra letters.
- Many references to Dragon Ball Z.
- The Illa Carlemany shopping mall in Escaldes.
- Phone charging benches.
- Andorra hosts many Argentinians so Argentina and its heroes aren’t far away.
- Strict rules for no skating.
WiFi
Andorra is not part of the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) and thus is not part of the free roaming scheme. So people are looking for free WiFi.
Andorra la Vella does offer free WiFi in its main streets but connecting failed. Luckily many shops and malls offer free WiFi.
Vibes
Andorra la Vella is not a pearl of architecture, but has a nice vide. The valley look, the river make me think of Luxembourg City in the Grand Duchy or Karlovy Vary in Czechia.
So?
Andorra la Vella is bustling and is clearly a regional centre. A day is enough. Two days gives you more time to actually visit cultural or historic venues. We visited the Casa la Vall on the day we left the principality.
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