Welcome to Andorra la Vella, the capital and largest city of Andorra, high in the eastern Pyrenees between France and Spain. At 1,023 metres above sea level, it is the highest capital city in Europe. Its name means the city of Andorra, and although vella sounds like the Catalan word for old, here it comes from the Latin villa, meaning city. People have lived on this site since before the Christian era, starting with the Andosin tribe, and the area was later part of the County of Urgell, created under Charlemagne. Let us wander through the mountain capital and its valleys.
Casa de la Vall
Photo: Zinneke · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBefore you stands the Casa de la Vall, a stone house built in 1580 as a manor and defensive tower by the Busquets family. In 1702 it passed to the country's council, and until 2011 it was the seat of the General Council of Andorra. Inside, the ground floor holds the courtroom, and upstairs is the Council Chamber with a chapel to Saint Ermengol. Look for the closet of the seven keys, where historic documents are stored: it has one lock for each parish of Andorra. The house is so important that it appears on the Andorran 1 euro coin.
Caldea
In neighbouring Escaldes-Engordany rises Caldea, a spa resort finished in 1994. With 6,000 square metres, it is one of the largest spas in Europe. The building has 18 floors and reaches 80 metres, making Caldea the tallest building in all of Andorra.
Església de Sant Esteve
Photo: fer55. · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOn Plaça del Príncep Benlloch stands the Church of Sant Esteve, built in the Romanesque style in the 11th and 12th centuries. It still has its original semicircular apse, the largest in the principality, and a 12th century altarpiece. The architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch remodelled the bell tower and side entrance in the 1940s, and a new nave followed in the 1960s. The church once held frescoes too, but most were removed in the early 20th century. Surprisingly, fragments are now kept far from here, in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona and in the Prado.
Santa Coloma d'Andorra
Photo: simonjoan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsAbout 2 kilometres from the capital, near the Gran Valira river, lies the small town of Santa Coloma. To its west are the mountain villages of Aixàs and Bixessarri and, across the border, Os de Civís in Spain. The town is known for its historic church, which was nominated in 1999 for the UNESCO World Heritage list in the cultural category.
Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley
Photo: Aliento Más Allá · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOur final stop is the Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley, a glacial valley in the southeast of Andorra covering about 9 percent of the whole country. In 2004 it became Andorra's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. High pastures, craggy cliffs and steep wooded slopes make it a haven for rare and endangered wildlife, and it is often called the spiritual heart of Andorra. The valley is so isolated that it can only be reached on foot. Its old dwellings, field terraces, tracks and remains of ironworking show how people lived from the high Pyrenees for more than 700 years.
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