The
Three Kings parades in the first week of January, the pre-Lent Carnival
celebrations, or the festes majores held by each parish in July and August
shut down the entire country. Summer festivals often feature the “Giants,”
13-foot-high figures made of papier-mâché, representing mythical
or historical characters from the country’s past. Hoisted on the shoulders
of carriers concealed under robes of white linen, royal blue silk, or red
velvet, they sway and pirouette their way through crowded streets accompanied
by pipers, drummers, and firecrackers. When I saw Sant Julia’s regal White
Lady for the first time, I fell in love with her instantly. One of
my favorite festivals is the annual Escudella, held in Sant Julia on St.
Anthony’s Day, Jan. 20. It’s a communal meal, commemorating the saint’s
deliverance of the town from a diphtheria epidemic.
Chefs
prepare a stew of chicken, beef, and sausage in huge vats over wood fires
set in the plaza. By midday, half the parish is standing in line with plates
and cutlery at the ready. Everything is free, including bread, wine, and
dessert. For local restaurant owners, this is not one of their better days.
Portions for mountain appetites
Eating out in Andorra is enjoyable,
inexpensive—and filling. Restaurants gear their portions to mountain appetites
and to patrons who like to see their main course fork-lifted to the table.
Carn a la brasa (beef, lamb, or pork grilled over an open fire) is a favorite,
as is truita (trout), conill (rabbit), bacalla (cod, prepared in any of
a half-dozen different ways), botifarra (spiced sausage) and trinxat (sliced
potatoes, mixed vegetables, olive oil, and garlic). Allioli (a delicious
garlicky mayonnaise) is served with just about everything.
For two people, expect to pay $20
to $25 in the average, small restaurant. This included a bottle of house
wine and dessert. For more sophisticated fare and up-market ambiance, the
check will be $65 to $70 at any of my favorites: Versailles, Borda Estevet,
Moli dels Fanals, Can Manel, and San Marco. (WHERE ARE THESE RESTAURANTS?)
For
a major celebration, drive just over the border to one of Spain’s finest
restaurants at the El Castell Hotel in Seu d’Urgell. And don’t miss the
Hostal Dolcet in the nearby village of Alas. It’s not in the fine dining
category, but has character in spades. Order cabrito (kid goat) and you
get half the animal.
Like kids in a candy store
While our house was being completed,
we never felt comfortable about being away for more than 24 hours. When
we were finally free, we were like kids in a candy store. Barcelona and
the Costa Brava were only three hours away, Madrid and Toledo a half-day.
We drove to Pamplona and ran with the bulls for two days, moved on to the
emerald-green Basque country and the elegant, Atlantic resort of San Sebastian.
On other trips, we headed south to Alicante, Almeria, Marbella, and the
Costa del Sol. In time, we scouted most of the peninsula.
On the French side, it was only 80
miles to the medieval walled city of Carcassone, the Corbierès vineyards,
and the Mediterranean coast. Bordeaux and the Dordogne were a half-day
away, Paris and the Brittany coast, a full day. We staggered away from
the tables at some of the country’s finest restaurants, but also ate and
drank at countless unheralded auberges where the food was also worth a
star or two.
It
may sound like a back-handed compliment to say that Andorra is a great
base from which to explore France and Spain, but for its residents, it’s
one of the country’s great assets.
The real estate market
Housing has never been cheap in Andorra.
Many properties are on plots hewn from the side of a mountain. Excavation
is expensive and, depending on the site, you may need a retaining wall
to prevent earth and rocks cascading into your back yard. If you’re considering
building, you’ll need to budget about $35 per square foot for a plot, plus
$110 per square foot for construction. Professional fees, interior finishing,
appliances, and galactic-scale aggravation are extra.
Parishes add to the cost by insisting
that buildings are clad with stone and roofed with dark-gray slates to
preserve the rustic appearance characteristic of the country. For months,
a team of Portuguese workmen chipped and shaped stones outside our garage,
then hoisted them up onto scaffolding where they cemented them to the brick
walls. It cost us $15,000. An Italian neighbor found out the hard way that
no exceptions are allowed. After importing an entire log house in knock-down
form, he was forced to cover most of the exterior with stone.
The good news is that when you combine
brick and stone walls two-and-a-half-foot thick with wide, picture windows,
you get enormous, exterior ledges with enough space to plant a small garden.
For most of the year, boxes filled with crimson and white geraniums transform
Andorra’s house and apartment facades into floral showpieces.
We made two mistakes when we went
shopping for a house. First, we purchased a property that was only half-constructed.
Second, because we’d previously renovated in Canada, we thought that, rather
than employing a builder to finish it, we would act as our own general
contractor. I could write a book about the experience.
Bottom line—purchase a resale
Bottom line—forget about building
and purchase a resale. Prices of less expensive properties moved up 15%
over the last year and the same is expected next, but if you’re looking
for a middle price-range, detached house, it’s still basically a buyer’s
market.
Most foreigners buy in the parish
of La Massana (population 6,000) in the northeast of the country. The British
settled there years ago, but the community is now much more international.
Good locations are the outskirts
of La Massana town and the nearby villages of Anyos, Sispony, L’Aldosa,
Pal, Erts, Xixerella, and Arinsal. The parish of Ordino (adjacent to La
Massana, population 2,000) is also popular but few of its properties come
on the market and prices tend to be correspondingly high.
In the La Massana area, the minimum
asking price for any kind of detached house is about $285,000. Some run
as high as $1.5 million but most are $400,000 to $700,000. Typically, they’ll
be on plots of 5,000 to 7,500 square feet with built-up space of 2,000
3,500 square feet and will include three to five bedrooms, two to four
bathrooms, good-size principal rooms, a fireplace or two, terrace, a spacious
garden, and a two-car garage.
The
Three Kings parades in the first week of January, the pre-Lent Carnival
celebrations, or the festes majores held by each parish in July and August
shut down the entire country. Summer festivals often feature the “Giants,”
13-foot-high figures made of papier-mâché, representing mythical
or historical characters from the country’s past. Hoisted on the shoulders
of carriers concealed under robes of white linen, royal blue silk, or red
velvet, they sway and pirouette their way through crowded streets accompanied
by pipers, drummers, and firecrackers. When I saw Sant Julia’s regal White
Lady for the first time, I fell in love with her instantly. One of
my favorite festivals is the annual Escudella, held in Sant Julia on St.
Anthony’s Day, Jan. 20. It’s a communal meal, commemorating the saint’s
deliverance of the town from a diphtheria epidemic.
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