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To most Brits, Andorra is that holiday destination with cheap skiing and even cheaper drink and cigarettes. This combination lures some 10 million tourists across the borders each year, similar to the numbers invading Greece, a country 250 times its size.

Dig a little deeper, however, and you find a fascinating country of long tradition and strange paradox. Nestled high in the Pyrenees between France and Spain, Andorra is similar in size and population to the Isle of Man and neither imposes direct taxation on their residents; but there the similarities end. For Andorra is a Principality and a very special one at that, being the only one in the world ruled over by not one but two Constitutional Princes. One of them is the Bishop of the neighbouring Spanish diocese of Urgell, the other, no less a personage than the President of France himself. A unique system - it has been suggested as a model for Gibraltar - that has served Andorrans well since its introduction at the end of the 13th century. Neither powerful neighbour has ever invaded - though you can imagine the furore when Le Pen looked as if he might become the next co-prince!

Andorrans like to trace their history as an independent nation back to Charlemagne. Legend, and the country's rousing national anthem, attest that, in return for helping the great man rebuff the Moors in the 8th century, he granted the Andorran people rights of independence. This is almost certainly untrue. On the other hand the six ancient parishes or comuns of Andorra: Canillo, Encamp, Ordino, La Massana, Andorra la Vella and Sant Julià (in that order of precedence) can and do trace their present Consell General (General Council or Parliament) back to the representative Consell de la Terra (The Land Council) which the Co-Princes instituted in 1419.

Due to ancient laws of inheritance which decreed that only one person (usually but not always the first-born son) could inherit the Casa Pairal (Ancestral Home) and the land that went with it, Andorra maintained, over the centuries, a remarkably stable population of some 3-4,000 souls. Then came the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) when thousands of Catalan Republicans fled to Andorra. During the Second World War the country served as an escape route for downed Allied pilots. Recently a commemorative plaque was presented to the Andorran head of Government, Sr. Marc Forné, in which the British people thanked the Andorrans for their courage and assistance during the war. This plaque will be displayed in La Massana high street opposite the Hotel Palanques where many of the estimated 3,000 Allied and Jewish fugitives were temporarily lodged.

It was not till the early 50s that a snow plough arrived and for the first time the Coll d'Envalira - the highest pass in the Pyrenees - remained open all year round. This was shortly followed by the first ski resort. Over the next 12 years Andorra's population doubled. By the time I arrived in 1982 the annual defence budget was $5 (sic) and the population 32,000. Today the defence budget must have risen to $10 (taking into account inflationary pressures on blank cartridges) while it's population is nearing 68,000. Of these only some 17% are native Andorrans, another 17%, including Sr. Forné, have acquired Andorran nationality. The rest are foreigners from across the globe. In other words 66% of the population are immigrants. Something which other countries, worried by 7% immigration, might profitably reflect on.
Andorra's children, whether citizens or not, have one major advantage in life: the choice of not one, not two but three different educational systems. In every parish they can receive their primary education in Catalan (Andorra's official language) French or Spanish and can also switch between systems if they wish. By the age of ten most children are trilingual. (English, as a fourth language, is making headway.) Later on they can graduate from secondary school through the same three systems and then go on to university in either France or Spain.

Which brings us to yet another oddity; Andorra's postal system. Years ago, when the valleys were filled with snow, pigeons were used to carry news. Then, in 1931, Andorra became the only country in the world to set up two competing postal systems run by two different, and foreign, countries. Yup! You can go to the French post office and buy French Andorran stamps or the Spanish and buy Spanish ones. And if your letter is destined for another part of Andorra you don't need a stamp at all. The post offices have to deliver it for free. This is but one example of how the canny Andorrans have, throughout history, exploited their two giant neighbours.
Another, until recently, was smuggling.

Just as Australians like to trace their ancestors back to sheep stealers, the Andorrans are not averse to the odd smuggler in the family. A few years ago a friend, climbing in the mountains near the Spanish border, met a couple of smugglers, each with an easily recognisable rectangular pack of cigarette cartons on his back. My friend asked permission to take a photograph. 'No problem,' came the reply. 'But please photograph us from behind.'

As long ago as the 17th century, Spain imposed a monopoly on tobacco. Immediately the Andorrans set about cultivating the noxious weed and have been smuggling it over the borders ever since. Tobacco transformed their agricultural economy as they converted the valleys' most fertile fields to the large-leafed crop and then had to terrace less fertile land for cereals. A couple of years back 'The Times' ran an article on the extraordinary, ten-fold leap in Andorra's imports of tobacco; up to 70 million packets in one year, enough for every Andorran man, woman and child to smoke 65 a day! A major Irish/Russian smuggling racket then whisked the tax free cigarettes out again. Andorra's EU neighbours were not amused.

Another example of the entrepreneurial spirit came at the turn of the last century when France introduced a monopoly on matches. Within one year the import of phosphorous into Andorra had soared and after two they had a match factory up and running.

If you're in Andorra during the summer and you'd like to sample some of the old smuggling trails for yourself, contact the English-speaking Maestro company and join one of their all-day excursions in a 4 x 4 Unimog bus.

I should add that other types of crime are relatively rare in Andorra. Elderly ladies cheerfully walk home alone late at night. Recently I left my handbag at a bus stop. When I looked for it it had gone. Two hours later I received a call to say it - and all its contents - had been handed in to the police. Sadly not before I'd cancelled all my credit cards and two mobile phones...

Those who have been in Andorra in winter and have had the misfortune to have a skiing accident will already know about the first class hospital to be found in Escaldes. In a recent world-wide WHO survey, Andorra's health system came fourth. Another survey found that Andorrans' life expectancy is Europe's highest. The country's one hospital is ultra modern - patients have individual air-conditioned bedrooms with gleaming, stainless steel en suite bathrooms, patient-controlled tilting beds and TVs. Due to much practice the country's orthopaedic surgeons show considerable skill. Waiting lists for most procedures are non-existent, however residents requiring major heart or cancer surgery must choose between the French hospitals in Toulouse or the Spanish ones in Barcelona.

Perhaps, though, you're not planning to fall sick on your holidays but are into music and dance. If so look out for the little oblong booklet, 'Un Mes A Andorra' (A Month in Andorra), issued free and found in hotels, banks, tourist and post offices. Inside is information on most of the month's events.

The country's discos seem to come and go with amazing frequency: one moment one is in vogue and crammed to busting and then, six weeks later, everyone takes off, like migrant birds, to another. The Blue Angel Jazz club offers music every night with the British jazz pianist Ian West as one of its attractions. Ian also plays weekends at the Roc de Caldes, one of Andorra's five star hotels which, during the week, offers an interesting lunchtime menu for only €15.

Each year in June the country's newest parish, Escaldes-Engordany, holds a jazz festival while Andorra la Vella has a winter season of classical music and dance. Though the invited performers have included such illustrious names as Ashkanazi, The King's Singers and the Vienna State Ballet, the capital has yet to provide a venue to do them justice. I particularly remember one modern Algerian dance group. Being tall, I savoured their innovative entry, rolling in flat on the floor. Alas, my shorter neighbour didn't even realise that the show had begun. In contrast, every autumn the very comfortable 500 seat National Auditorium in Ordino holds a two week International Festival of classical and Spanish music. Ordino also hosts a biannual festival of bagpipes with players coming from all over Europe. Finally, each May, the Catalan diva, Montserrat Caballé, gives her name to a week-long competition for young opera singers, then gives four days of Master Classes, all open to the public in Sant Julià's modern theatre complex.

Andorra also has a lively amateur scene. The Petits Cantors (Little Singers), invited to sing for the UN's 50th anniversary, is just the most visible of the country's eight choirs. The Santa Anna and Santa Roma folk dance troops are both of a professional standard. For anyone living here there is also an International Club. The 500 or so members of 32 nationalities meet in small groups to paint, sing, appreciate wine, stitch patchwork, study nature, play tennis and just chat.

And then there are the Festivals. Every village church has its feste major. These are almost all held during the summer and can last up to a week with dancing and street theatre, Giants, cook-outs and a solemn Mass. That of Sant Julià, held in July, is often voted to be the liveliest but Andorra la Vella has an excellent one too. (Check times of events in Un Mes). Incidentally, at over 1,000 meters, Andorra la Vella is the highest capital in Europe. The 23rd June, the Eve of Sant Joan (Saint John), is celebrated throughout Andorra and Catalunya with bonfires, hot chocolate or Muscatel and cake offered to all revellers by the comuns. In Ordino, the Festival of St Pere on 29th June usually includes a particularly splendid fireworks display.

In winter, January 5th is the eve of Three Kings or Twelfth Night. Don't miss the grand cavalcade as the Three Kings travel in full regalia through the streets of the main towns throwing sweets to the children. If, however, it's a complete free lunch you're after then be on hand for January 17th , Sant Antoni, when some parishes offer passers-by wine, and stew cooked in huge cauldrons in the street.

The biggest festival of all falls on 8th September. This is Meritxell Day and, until they added Constitution Day, the only day in the year when all Andorra's shops and businesses closed. (Buying a turkey on Christmas morning still poses no problems at all.) Our Lady of Meritxell is Andorra's patron saint. Her strange, modern Sanctuary on the road between Canillo and Encamp is well worth a visit. The earlier sanctuary, chief centre of Pyrenean pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, was destroyed by fire in 1972. The distinguished Catalan architect Ricard Bofill designed the present building; austere on the outside with its black stone for the mountains inlaid with white stone for the snow, inside he has created a stunning centre for worship full of light and space.

Maybe, though, you are into museums. Andorra has many. Ask at the tourist offices for more information. In my opinion the most extraordinary one, the one that never fails to enchant old and young alike, is Ordino's micro-miniature museum. It needs only half an hour to view through microscopes the dozen incredible works of art etched on grape pips, a human hair or a grain of rice. Working mainly in gold, Nikolaï Siadristi had to create them between heart beats, so delicate is the work. Another museum not to be missed is the Casa Rull in Sispony, La Massana. Set in an old farmhouse, the tour starts with a colourful 'film' of Andorra's rural past (ask for it in English) then, holding individual hand sets as guides, you walk through the restored farmhouse listening to voices from the past describing life in Andorra as it used to be. For the motor enthusiast, Encamp's motor museum houses some gleaming exhibits.

You may have noticed how the festivals and museums are spread around the country. This is an example of competition at work. Andorra's parishes, while very small, have a local autonomy and pride comparable to that of England, Scotland and Wales. This autonomy dates back to the time when each parish rented out its own high meadows to visiting herdsmen. Then Andorra was the centre of a huge annual migration, or transhumancia, of animals from the hot plains of France and Spain to the cool Pyrenean pastures. During the summer months the houses in Andorra's hamlets were locked, and the whole village migrated up to their alpine meadows or cortals (a word still to be seen on sign posts) where they lived in small stone bordes and not only grazed their sheep and cattle but made cheese and spun wool. In the autumn they came back to their homes ready for another hard winter. Soldeu, one of Andorra's best known ski resorts, was for many years the highest village in the Pyrenees to be inhabited all the year round.

More recently the parishes have experienced a competitive urge to modernise and offer better facilities for both parishioners and visitors. This competition led, in the 80's, to a mad spending spree which threw all the parishes into debt but which has left the country with a legacy of sports centres - Encamp's probably being the best - concert halls and theatres. The latest craze is for cable cars. Again Encamp led the way with the Funicamp. This is the longest cable car in Europe - it takes about 15 minutes to ride to the top - it was also, at the time of its construction, only the second cable car to run on two cables instead of one giving it greater stability in high winds. Operating throughout the ski season and also during July and August, the Funicamp is definitely worth a ride. The 360º views are stunning and if, when you get to the top, you ignore the café and go to the restaurant above you can treat yourself to an excellent meal. Canillo also has a cable car as do the ski stations of Pal and Arinsal. La Massana has one planned.

Another extravaganza not to be missed is the Caldea in Escaldes. The word 'Escaldes' derives from the town's hot springs. At one time the water was used for washing and dyeing wool. To this day it heats many of the parish's homes. During the Spanish Civil War, the monks from Catalunya's ancient monastery of Montserrat took refuge in Escaldes' Hotel Valira. They planned to create a thermal centre next to the river but then the War ended and they returned home. It wasn't until the late '80s that Escaldes comú backed a private French plan to create Europe's largest spa and leisure centre. Many visitors mistake the glass pyramid reaching into the skies of downtown Escaldes for a glittering cathedral.

Though fun in summer, the Caldea really comes into its own during the winter months. Not only is there a large interior lagoon where the water is kept at 32ºC (and 1.3m deep) but there is also a 'river' outside. Lie back on its 'banks' in bubbling hot water with your head out in the frosty air and look up through the rising steam at the snow-capped mountains. Look a little further, and indoors, and discover benches of hot marble, a Turkish hammam, Jacuzzis, sauna, ice plunge (I've never actually had the courage to try that one), the room, curiously named Llum de Woods, full of soothing music and mauve lights charged with negative ions. Finally, on the floor above, are white sun loungers where you can laze back under infra-red lights and just relax. Book ahead and for an extra charge you can indulge in a personal massage.
The entrance fee is about the same as a session on the ski slopes and lasts three hours. Arrive early (9-9.30am) in high season to avoid the crowds. Keep your locker key and take your purse with you. On a back wall near the first pool is a bank of small lockers where you can leave your purse, glasses, watch etc. Then, if you wish, you can go to the Oasis Bar above and have a coffee or light lunch. For something more ambitious, and in the same building, there's the Aquarius, a first class, though expensive restaurant, along with an art gallery, interesting modern jewellers and clothes boutiques.

The parishes not only vie with each other for modern attractions. Each also has its treasure trove of Romanesque churches and chapels. Very popular for local weddings, they are open for free guided tours throughout July and August. If you're in Andorra on 10th July, then head for the tiny 12th century chapel of St Cristòfol perched high above the La Massana valley at Anyós. It is the day when local drivers call on the patron saint of travellers to protect them during the coming year. And boy, do they need it! Cars, taxis, lorries and garbage trucks line the country lane, bouquets of flowers stuck in their radiators, while the village priest douses them liberally with holy water before leading their drivers into the priceless church for Mass. The chapel is also used one Sunday a month from Easter to Remembrance Day by Andorra's English-speaking Church, a highly ecumenical branch of Anglicanism which welcomes everyone, whatever their denomination.

While justly proud of their 27 Romanesque churches, the present government hopes to shape the country for the 21st century. As well as bidding for the 2010 Winter Olympics, they want to encourage more long-term tourism; during the winter to ski at the country's four resorts: Pas de la Casa-Grau Roig and Soldeu-El Tarter, both large and well equipped, Pal-Arinsal smaller, picturesque and south-facing and north-facing Ordino-Arcalis the resort of choice of many ex-pats. During the summer there's not only the cultural heritage to visit but also summer activities organised at the ski stations: archery, horse-riding, mountain biking, go-carting or walks in the country's beautiful, rugged mountains.

If you do take to the hills in summer do remember that the afternoons can cloud over and turn chilly. Last June, three of us drove to a mountain pass to enjoy an evening picnic whilst watching the sun set behind the Spanish Pyrenees. The sky was blue, the view glorious. And then a great cloud rolled in and we found ourselves eating salad enveloped in thick fog - and 6º C temperatures. We gulped down the rest of our supper and headed back to the valleys - and the country's crazy building fever.

For yes, Andorra does have its drawbacks. Residents cynically insist that the country's national 'bird' is the crane. These high yellow structures flag every building site in the land. Chalets and apartments are needed to house the influx of residents and tourists. With the housing boom comes the need for more drains, power cables, telephone lines which means digging up all the existing roads; roads which have often been laid over mule tracks that wound down through the steep-sided valleys; roads only two-cars wide and with impressive drops to one side, along which all the trucks loaded with building materials and excavated earth have to vie with cement lorries and the daily garbage collection. Quite frankly, Andorra's roads are a nightmare.

To solve the problem tunnels are being drilled through mountains, dual carriageways are being built where feasible but there is yet to be a consensus on the most important requirement of all: an efficient system of public transport to wean the people from their beloved cars. Another statistic being that, per capita, Andorrans have the second highest number of cars in Europe.

My daughter, brought up in the tropics, once complained, 'Mummy, in England the clouds sit on your head.' In Andorra, in winter, I expect weeks of clear blue skies, of lunches eaten on the balcony. In summer, though daytime temperatures reach into the 30s, the nights are refreshingly cool. Harking back to that old Visa competition, I've lived for more than six months in 20 countries varying from the poverty of East Timor to the sophistication of Singapore, the cold of Canada and the heat of Kenya, the rich cultural heritage of Turkey to the unique flora and fauna of a small island in the Seychelles. I've visited many other countries and lived on a desert island to boot. Nowhere is perfect but, for me, Andorra comes out tops.

FACTS:
Size: 468 sq. km
Population: Aprox 68,000

On-line:
Andorra hotel bookings: www.turismeandorra.ad.com
English-speaking church www.andorranchurchenglishspeaking.com
Maestro (English-speaking tour operator): maestro(maestroholidays.com

For general information when in Andorra look for the book Andorra: Festivals, Traditions and Folklore (Written by local Writer's Circle, proceeds go to local cancer
care.) There's a tourist information centre in each town which has lots more information.

First published in VISA issues 47-48 (autumn-winter 2002)