Happy Tuesday from a delightful little part of Europe. We’re high in the mountains, and this is the delightful little view from our delightful little balcony at the ski lodge in Arinsal. You can also see a fair amount of the village below.
If you turn your head to the left a bit, as I did, while you were enjoying your morning tea, as I was, you would see this other delightful little hill.
Everything is delightful, then. So much so, I had more than one cup of tea this morning.
The Yankee, for her part, went skiing. We’re in the Pyrenees. We’re at a ski lodge. Why wouldn’t you go skiing? She hasn’t been on skis in a few decades and was eager to give it a try. I was eager for her to start out on the bunny slopes, which she did. She rented some equipment from one of the 45 rental places in this small town, borrowed my coat, and found her ski legs again. She said she did a couple of runs down the smallest slopes, and then tried a few more challenging routes.
In my mind, she was blazing her way down this mountain.
She came back to our apartment sweaty, smiling, and extremely happy with her first ski adventures in 23 or so years, in New England.
The plan for the day, which saw rain and snow in the forecast, was to stay indoors. Turns out you can’t trust weather forecasts in the high mountains. The weather, aside from some early sunny snow fall mid-morning, was pitch perfect.
We made our way down the mountains into Andorra’s capital, Andorra la Vella, population 23,000.
Come to find out, today is Constitution Day in Andorra. This is one of their four big holidays. (Happy Constitution Day, Andorra!) All of the shopping is closed down, which is fine, that’s not our purpose, but a big part of the local economy. Most of the restaurants and other businesses were closed, too. Apparently everyone went skiing.
We had lunch in a subdued little Italian joint overlooking an empty lot where kids were chasing pigeons and kicking soccer balls. Despite a few minutes of wandering around looking for a place for lunch, it was a lovely mid-day.
Our afternoon plans were to visit Caldea Spa, the largest spa centre in Southern Europe. They have four spas in there, and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays no kids allowed. Overall, it was …
We visited the Inúu spa, which features a “great interior lagoon” with thermal waters (91 degrees) that develop into waterfalls, powerful water jets for massages and bubble beds. You can walk or swim outside, too. And, sure, it’s late winter in the mountains, but the water was warm. Also, the sun, the clean air, the views of the mountains that surround you, and the jacuzzi.
There was also a gym, a “treatments space,” and a relaxation spa, all of which we skipped. We did take part in the “reactivation space,” which offers a “complete set of services that awaken your senses.” There was a sauna, heated walls and chromatic showers at different pressures and temperatures.
We stayed for five hours. It was, as the building promised, ssspaaactacular.
Strictly because it is colorful, this is the underside of the elevated sidewalk going into the spa, which sits in the center of the valley, in the heart of Andorra la Vella.
I don’t know how often I would go to a place like this if it was near me, but I’m sure I’d find a way to add it into some sort of routine. “If anyone needs me,” I said I would say, “I’ll be at my spa.”
It was a wonderful day, a relaxing vacation day. The only problem with Constitution Day was that we had limited meal choices. Since the big city was shut down, we drove back up to Arinsal, where we are staying, because we knew Surf was serving.
Surf is where we had dinner Sunday night, the Argentinian steakhouse.
When you’re in a steakhouse, you should consider a steak which, for whatever reason, neither of us did Sunday. When you’re in an Argentinian steakhouse, you should absolutely order steaks. They were sssteaaakctacular.
Tomorrow, more skiing, and more sightseeing!
