2024 in Andorra

In the early 1990s, while watching "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?", a geography-oriented television quiz show for kids, I heard the host talk about Andorra. He mentioned that it was one of the smallest countries in the world. (I have always paid attention to extremes in all aspects of life!)

At the time, as a young kid, I did not have the Internet but a globe and a crude children's atlas. I looked endlessly for this place. I would search the libraries for books about it. With an encyclopedia, I confirmed it existed in a mountainous area between France and Spain. I thought, "someday I will go and visit it", not knowing anything about it and not caring if it anything to offer. Perhaps something about the name, or its size, or its obscurity, made it appealing to me.

32 years later, I actually had my chance to visit it and took it! Andorra became my 31st unique country:

This made it my:

• 21st European country
• 1st country with Catalan as its national official language (out of 1!)

I had known that Barcelona was close to Andorra. It seemed like a 2-hour or 3-hour drive. Yes, even in Europe, distances do get vast. Thanks to the Internet, I found one or two bus tours that would take people not only from Barcelona to Andorra, but also make stops along the way in Spain and in France.

Visit

So, on August 26, 2004, after stops in Bagà, Spain and Ax-les-Thermes, France, I visited Andorra! I visited not only the capital, Andorra la Vella, but also its eastern border town with France, El Pas de la Casa.

Andorra has its quirks:

• the only sovereign country in the world to have Catalan as its official language (a language that appears to have some commonality between French and Castilian Spanish)
• the only country in the world to be ruled by two foreigners (the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell, Spain) due to some technicalities of history
• the country does not belong to the European Union but, for convenience, belongs to the Schengen Area of free movement and uses the euro for currency
• the origins of the name Andorra seems uncertain with varying theories as to its etymology