Andorra

Andorra is a small country located on the border of Spain and France, resembling a fictional kingdom from a magical fairy tale.

In the country, there is only one major city — the capital, Andorra la Vella. As evident from the name, the country is so tiny that its creators didn’t even have enough imagination to come up with a different name for the city.

Andorra spreads out with its low-rise buildings between green hills and mountain rivers. There is no airport or train here. To fly out, residents of Andorra take a bus to Spain. To travel by train, they go to France. Fortunately, it only takes three hours by bus to reach Barcelona, as well as the French city of Toulouse.

But is it necessary to leave the magical country?

After all, in Andorra, not only does a sweet coolness prevail against the Catalan heat, but there are also refreshingly low prices in stores. Tiny states thrive precisely because they have abolished VAT (Value Added Tax).

Twilight zone

The sun plays a wonderful game when you are in Andorra.

The thing is, the country is surrounded by mountains on all sides. Therefore, in the evening, the sun doesn’t set beyond the horizon but goes down behind the mountain. Twilight falls over the entire country just like it comes to a small courtyard when the sun hides behind the houses.

It turns out that when it’s still daytime in one part of Andorra...

...in the other half, it’s already evening.

The sun in Andorra paints the boundary between day and night on the asphalt. The contrast of light in a photograph is not just a play of light; it represents the border of time.

The shadow is in the part where the sun’s rays no longer reach due to the mountain; in the bright part, the sun has not yet set.

In Andorra, you can walk from evening to day and back again. It is a completely fantastic phenomenon that the author has never heard of before. Fantastic, and yet incredibly simple.

I wonder if they know about this in Andorra itself? It seems like they don’t. When you live amidst wonders, you get used to them and take them for granted.

Well, so what: the sun shines through the mountains like spotlights. It’s something that happens here every evening.

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The morning in Andorra is the freshest in the world.

The stone village houses resemble Switzerland, and everything around is like the Alps, where I have never been, but I know for sure.

A river flows through the city, and along the river, there is a row of hotels — and the sound of water can be heard all night long, just like during a camping trip.

Andorra la Vella is too small of a city to speak of “main streets” and “small alleys.” But when you accidentally peek around a corner and make your way along a pathway, you discover miniature landscapes, each unique in its own way.

But it’s best to take a look at the valley from a high hill! And the entire tiny capital of the tiny country fits in one frame.

There is only one street in Andorra; well, no, there are several, of course. But their sparse network, barely accommodating the city, is so narrow that it seems like there’s only one street.

The architecture of residential houses can be either stone, wooden, semi-plastic, or lifeless, but rarely scary.

The little houses either rise or sprawl — there is no unified view. Sometimes they stand closely together in the city, while at other times, they climb up the mountains.

There is also an old town here, a mere speck in the tiny capital.

Suddenly, a metropolis was discovered as well.

But the most important thing is that the sun shines in a special way in any part of the city.

Andorra is a fairy-tale country.

Only in a fairy-tale country, detached from reality, can a stern military officer point his finger from a huge billboard and ask, “Have you enrolled for culture?”

In a fairy-tale country, culture fills not just museums or wide boulevards but the hidden nooks and crannies that are difficult to find in a small city.

In a fairy-tale country, magical castles made of glass stand.

In the fairyland on the mountains, there is a drawing made of white stones, in which a kind hero saves a child in his arms.

In the fairyland, people are sitting in the air.

They levitate, meditate, and wait for something, gazing at the mountains. They are waiting for you, reader. Come to Andorra as soon as possible.

Local prices: iPhone Xs 256GB: €1100 / iMac Retina 27: €1750 / MacBook Air: €850. Come to Andorra as soon as possible.