June 13th, 2018 – Zaragoza, Spain to Andorra la Vella, Andorra: ~220 miles
We visit Andorra and check out a fantastic motorcycle museum.
Just like when we crossed into Gibraltar, Vy had to go back to the border agent to request a passport stamp.
Mission accomplished.
The motorcycling culture in Andorra is fantastic for such a tiny country. There’s bikes everywhere, and they all get to enjoy incredible scenery (and the companionship of hillside cows).
Emphasizing the local passion for motorcycles was the fact that there was a museum I wasn’t aware of directly across the street from our hotel! It was a museum/sports bar opened by Jorge Lorenzo celebrating his achievements as well as those of his idols and rivals. He called it the “World Champions By 99 Museum”, but unfortunately it was closed today. No problem – I’d be able to check it out tomorrow, and I had something that would more than make up for it today.
You know the next stop is going to be good when a rainbow takes you right to it.
Welcome to Museu de la Moto.
Here’s a few highlights, but I’ll have a whole Picture Intermission dedicated to the museum for you tomorrow.
A rainbow greeted us on the way in, and I was stunned by the beauty of the valley on the way out. At this moment, I wanted to move to Andorra – a country I knew nothing about. It’s the 11th smallest country in the world by population (just over 77k residents), but it has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. All the happy motorcyclists must skew the numbers up.
As the afternoon was all about my passion of motorcycles, we traded priorities for the evening and focused on what Vy loves – going for walks. We were in the capital city of Andorra de la Vella, and it provided a great setting for an urban hike.
We were rewarded by the Andorran flag at the top of our ascent.
There’s all kinds of fun stuff in the capital at all sorts of elevation levels.
Harley-Davidson has a dealership in Andorra de la Vella. It’s a great place to sell bikes, but their prop work isn’t great.
“In the land of the sober, the drunk is the king.”
I don’t want to admit how many times it took me to line this photo up. But I liked the idea of trying to keep the view in play for anyone stuck behind this large building.
Our trend of enjoying paella for dinner continues.
We got to dinner fairly late so there weren’t many other customers. The wait staff must have been bored, as they started offering us free drinks even after the bill was paid. My face suggests that I wasn’t impressed with the color of our gift, though I did like the pour!
It was a herbal liquor called Las Cadenas, and it’s a pomace brandy (distilled from the leftover grapes/stems from winemaking) that’s infused with a whole bunch of herbs. I enjoy just about any alcohol, but I’d probably pass the next time this is offered to me. I’d say it tastes like it looks, though I guess it makes for a good digestive? The rest of the waiters joined us for a few rounds as well. I remember enjoying the cheap bottle of wine (Protocolo), so now I’m inspired to find a bottle back here in the US.
Turns out the elevated statues we saw earlier in the day light up at night, which is cool. All the colors are constantly shifting.
Turns out that Las Vegas, Nevada and Osaka, Japan are just about equidistant from Andorra.
On our walk back we went past a neighborhood liquor store with an excellent variety. Much to Vy’s surprise, I didn’t grab anything. But I had enough fun browsing, and I was impressed with the sticker-covered door with a bottlecap frame.
A few minutes later we were back in our hotel room and I was planning our route back to Barcelona for tomorrow.