Benasque and a quicky in Andorra

From Pamplona we headed on towards Benasque. Never heard about it? That's OK, neither had we. But a friend of my human was currently staying there in his family's summer house. And after checking out some pictures and information online, we had more than one very good reason to go there.

The drive was, well, let's say tiring for all of us. Narrow, windy roads through the Pyrenees, serpentines, up down, back up, one lane tunnels without signage, things like that. Carmelo was breaking a sweat every 500 meters.

On this drive the love/hate relationship between my human and my A-pillar really became a problem. Love, because it is a vital part of my physiology, of course, and quite important to my integrity, as I kept pointing out. On the other hand, and I do get that, it is always in the way. Especially on roads like these, when the driver tries to look around the next bend to see oncoming traffic and just can't, because - yes, my A-pillar, exactly.

Anyway, we made it safe and sound, if a bit tired, to Benasque. The town is claiming to be one of the prettiest in Spain. Now we know, there is truth to that!

It's a small place, nestled in a very green, very pretty valley, surrounded by beautiful mountains. The only valley in the Pyrenees without a direct connection to France via a tunnel. Talk has been going on for ages, but the locals stand firmly against that tunnel.

So we met up with Javier, he took us to his house where we met parts of his family and lunch was ready to go. This friend knows her well, apparently. Give her food and you are halfway to her heart. They used to work together in Mexico a few years back and dwelled in memories a lot over the next couple of days.

After lunch, they went off to check out some waterfalls deep in the valley and some other spots with amazing views over the area. My human was already considering the various mountains, which would be nice to climb, which would offer the best views, which would be too hard, considering she hasn't been in the mountains for over six month.

In the early evening they went to meet some friends of Javier's in town for dinner. Which, since we are in Spain, is had around nine, half past, or later. Quite a change in the itinerary for a German. They had some tapas to share and then went on to a local pub.

By the time they got home my human's head was spinning. Hours and hours of non-stop Spanish conversation. They were all very considerate and spoke relatively slowly when talking to her, but still.

The next morning they went on a nice little hike, stopping at a lake for a quick break. Lunch was had at a very nice restaurant with a terrace affording amazing views. Every view here is amazing, really. They were joined by a family friend who, as they left the restaurant, asked about her plans for the next day. When she said she wanted to go hiking, he drove her up to a parking spot to show her from where she could start what was the best hike in the whole valley.

And that's what she did. After another night in town with his friends, celebrating a birthday, Javier had to leave early the next morning to go back to Valencia, where he lives and where we will meet him again And my human and I drove up to that spot and off she went, while I just enjoyed the views, surrounded by plenty of other four-wheelers.

Where is Wally? Or me, in this case.

Without a comparison it's difficult to say, but judging from the pictures, it sure was a great hike. The path leads past three lakes, of which the middle one was the prettiest, such a beautiful setting. It kind of goes against her nature, but even without a summit of any kind, she was very happy when she came back down.

And because it was such a beautiful spot, we stayed there for the night, as did a few others.

After breakfast we headed for a couple of small villages, Boi and Taüll, listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites because of their churches from the 11th and 12th Century. They are connected by a small hiking trail, which my human, obviously, took. Which was fine by me, really. This driving in the mountains is hard on my joints.

After having a good look around, patting a huge dog and snapping some shots, we were headed for our next country: Andorra.

Andorra is the 6th smallest country in Europe with all of 77.000 inhabitants. The things people seem to know about this country, is that the fuel and booze are cheap, and ... No, that's it, actually. And that's absolutely true. It's been over a year that I've seen the price of a liter of diesel to be this low, 1,06 Euro, to be exact.

Here are a few more facts: the capital is called Andorra la Vieja and sits a bit over 1.000 meters high. The country is not part of the EU, which meant no mobile internet with my human's contract from one meter to the next. It's known as the best ski area in the Pyrenees. The highest peak is called Comapedrosa and stands at 2942 meters.

And really, this mountain is what we came here for. Of course, we had a look around town first, but were done rather quickly. As answer to the question what there is to see and do here, the guy at the information center showed her a map of the city and pointed out the shopping street. And - that was it! Cheers.

Probably the most spectacular sight is what looks like a rather tall church tower made of glass. Turns out, this church tower is part of a spa complex which has an outside pool made of glass, so you can look into it from a bridge.

It took all of two hours and we were on our way to this night's parking spot. Which, in winter, I would have no chance of seeing. But since it's not, we drove up to the middle station of a ski lift, which has a parking area the size of a football field. And there were exactly three cars there.

It's called Oxygen Queen

What let on as a very quiet night was first interrupted at around eleven o'clock, when a couple of cars came driving up, circled the whole car park a couple of times, to then settle noisily in one corner of it. And the same thing happened again at 2 o'clock. This time it was a camper. At 2 o'clock! Where do these people come from at such a time?

At 6.30 the next morning we returned the favor when we left to drive the few kilometers to the start of the track up Comapedrosa. And we were not the first ones to arrive. A few cars were there already and people were starting to head up the mountain. And so was my human.

The track is easy enough, technically, until the last meters up to the summit, where it's a bit of a scramble. But 1400 height meters are not to be underestimated. When she came back, she was very happy, but rather tired and smelled of sheep, because a large herd had pretty much gone right through her on her way down. And although she had taken a quick skinny dip in the river coming down the mountain, I could still smell it.