two backpacks and a diaper bag

Sunday, May 20th. Andorra and Barcelona. So these two days felt like the fastest two days ever. We should have definitely stayed longer in Barcelona. I thought three nights would be enough, but with the Andorra addition late in the game, three nights did not even scratch the surface. It felt like we were barely there.

Yesterday, we took an 8:15 bus to Andorra la Vella. Our hotel was right by Barcelona Sants train and bus station, so getting to the bus station was easy and quick. We had to exchange our printed ticket confirmation for a bus ticket at the bus station. So we went to the bus station early, like 7:30. After getting the bus ticket, we went to the train station to grab some breakfast.

The bus arrived at 8:05. I went on the bus first while Sean took care of the stroller. I took the last row on the bus again. This time, there were four seats in the last row. There were no extra seats in between. But at least we got all four seats. The bus wasn’t very full but there was at least one person in each row on both sides of the aisle.

The bus departed around 8:20, and we were on our way to a new country.

The drive out of Barcelona was all right. When we got to the countryside, though, it started to look more pretty. Rolling hills, medieval towns in the background, green landscape. Beautiful. And then, just outside Andorra, the landscape dramatically changed. There were towering mountains in the background. They look like an American landscape, actually.

The drive was just gorgeous. We could also see snow-capped mountains in the background.

Our bus had a glass roof and real big windows. We could enjoy the view from all angles. It was as close as we could get to being outside.

As we approached Andorra, we were driving in between those towering mountains, following the curves of the river that cut right through them. It felt like Yosemite, without the waterfall.

At the border, the bus stopped. A policeman got on board and checked everyone’s documents. Unlike San Marino or Monaco where there were no passport checks, you need your passports to get into Andorra. Good thing we always carry our passports as we travel around.

Once he finished checking the documents, I heard a commotion coming from the front of the bus. All of a sudden, Sean threw his arm in front of me and Arthur. A dog lunged forward. That caught me by surprise. I was carrying Arthur and I quickly turned my body to the side so that the dog wouldn’t be able to touch Arthur. I suppose the passengers up front were also surprised. For those who don’t like or are afraid of dogs, this would have been a nightmare. The dog literally ran down the aisle with great energy. It looked like he was going to attack. He wasn’t, of course, but the energy he exuded was definitely intimidating.

When that was over, we continued to drive into the country.

I didn’t really do much research on Andorra. Visit a City didn’t have its usual recommended sights, though. TripAdvisor wasn’t very helpful either. I thought this day trip would be more like my day trip to Liechtenstein. I thought we could just show up and walk around the main part of town. After all, the “capital city” seemed quite small.

It turned out, Andorra is best explored with a car. There are many small towns in Andorra. Where we were, Andorra la Vella, is the capital city of Andorra. It is the highest capital city in Europe. Imagine two towering hills with a river cutting through it. Andorra la Vella is built along the river, but the town itself is quite spread out the long way. So to explore it, you would have to walk quite far from one end to another.

We decided to stick to the Historic Centre. From the bus station, we had to climb up a steep slope to get up to the Historic Centre.

I would describe this town as similar to resort towns in Switzerland. It would make sense, Andorra is known for its gentle ski slopes. People come here to ski in the winter and hike around in the summer.

The Historic Centre was nice, small, and quiet.

We stumbled upon a small souvenir store. We looked for a pin and a shot glass. As we looked around the store, the owner called us over to one corner of the store with a bar table. She poured two small shots of dark liquid and asked us to try them. We asked what it was. She said wine.

It tasted like sweet red wine. She said it was “oporto.” Yup, that made sense. It did taste like port wine.

She had a couple more things in several small oak barrels behind her. Malaga, sangria, and a couple others I don’t remember. We ended up getting half a liter of the oporto. The cost? 2.25 Euro. Damn cheap.

She also offered us several slices of their salami. We had a couple more taste of the different liquor and salami before we went on our way.

After wandering around, we found ourselves in front Casa La Vella. We went in, asked what this was, and the guy at the front desk said that it was a museum. Since yesterday was International Museum Day, the cost of entry was free. He was also giving a tour of the place if we were interested.

We said yes, and for the next 40 minutes, he took us around the house that used to be a private residence but then turned into a Parliament House and later a Court House before it became a Museum. We learned about the structure of the government system of Andorra as well as the role of Emmanuel Macron and the Bishop of Urgell as Co-Princes.

It turned out to be quite an educational tour.

We decided to grab lunch after this. We stumbled upon a restaurant called Minim’s. The server said they only served a set menu consisted of six courses.

Why not?

We decided to sit outside since Arthur was sleeping and there was no one else sitting outside in that small square.

She brought us a bottle of white wine. Sean told her that he only wanted a glass. She said it was part of the menu. This was probably the cheapest multiple-course meal we’ve had. 25euro per person including the bottle of wine. It was a really good meal, too. However, the meal basically took up the rest of our time in Andorra as we had to catch the 3:15 bus back to Barcelona.

6 hours of travel time for a 3.5 hours of exploration. Very short. This was similar to our 8 hours of travel time to San Marino just for 3 hours of exploration of the town. This was definitely not enough.

If I had known what this place was going to be like, I would have rented a car either from Barcelona or as soon as we arrived in Andorra, and I would have spent at least two nights here. There seems to be a lot of things to explore in this country. Maybe next time…

Once we were back in Barcelona, we headed home, “ordered” room service, and called it a night. The phone in our room didn’t work so Sean had to go all the way downstairs to order the food. First world problem.

Last night, Arthur was being extremely fussy. He was crying a lot, and it was so difficulty to calm him down. It was like he was so tired but he was refusing to sleep, and the way he cried sounded like he was hurting. We had a really rough night.

This morning, Sean and I both felt so tired. But we essentially had only one day in Barcelona, so we were determined to do as many things as possible. Within reason. With a baby.

We started our day by heading to La Sagrada Familia. We took a taxi there through mytaxi app.

When we got to the cathedral, the tickets were all sold out for the day! We didn’t realize they could be sold out. We should have bought the tickets in advance.

I’ve been inside before, but Sean hasn’t, and I wish he could have seen the magic of Gaudí’s creation. We ended up taking pictures from outside instead.

Disappointed for not being able to go inside the cathedral, we went to the cathedral’s gift shop instead to find some books that would show us what the inside of the church looks like. I had to show Sean the tree-like structures.

From here, we headed South. We walked the Avinguda Diagonal towards Passeig de Gràcia. We were only three blocks away from our destination when Arthur started to squirm. Luckily, there was a hotel (The One) just around the corner. We went inside, and the lobby was welcoming enough for me to sit and feed Arthur. And then we put him to sleep.

When we exited the building, we noticed its restaurant had a Michelin sticker. We looked at the menu and it was inviting enough for us to decide to eat there. After all, Arthur was asleep and we could get some lunch.

The food was quite good, actually.

After lunch, we continued our walk. We got to Casa Mila, and we continued walking past the Block of Discord to Plaça de Catalunya to La Rambla.

Then, after a couple of blocks down La Rambla, we turned left to head to the Gothic Quarter. We stumbled upon an antique market right in front of Barcelona Cathedral. We spent some time looking at the various collections.

Then we walked round and round Gothic Quarter turning left and right depending on what we found to be interesting.

At some point, we decided to head back towards La Rambla and walked down to Mirador de Colom.

And we used mytaxi app to call a taxi to head home.

We walked a lot today, but I truly enjoy the walks more than visiting the buildings. I get to people-watch as we walk down the street. And we get to see the non-touristy side of the city, too. Passing by a car wash service, for example. It’s simple and yet different.

And Arthur… well, he had his naps today and he was well-behaved. He had a huge diaper blowout when we were walking down Passeig de Gràcia. We had to change his shirt and pants in public on one of the benches on the pedestrian walkway. Good thing the sidewalk was really really big.

Anyway, we really didn’t get to see a lot of Barcelona today. I sincerely wish we had stayed here longer. It was such a quick trip and it didn’t feel relaxing at all. Even though we stayed three nights in Barcelona, it felt like we only did a day trip here. I really hope our time in Madrid the next couple of days would be different. Hopefully we’d be able to enjoy the city more.