Ordino es Viu
Turer Route, Ordino
May 1st - May 8th 2021
Ordino es Viu means Ordino is alive in Catalan, and it’s the tourist slogan of Ordino!
Students often ask me, where is your favorite place in Andorra?
The long answer is that that is a difficult question to answer! Andorra is a small country so it’s like what is your favorite part of the rural outskirts of this medium town? It’s only 10% urbanized, so outside of the town I live in Andorra la Vella, and the few other small towns, it is all beautiful mountains with very similar landscapes. Also, I don’t want to offend any students who would like to hear me say the name of their parish.
But the short and easy answer is simply Ordino!
The small, ancient village of Ordino is so cute with its stone buildings. And the hills and mountains around it are spectacular!
Village of Ordino
Here are some of the adventures I’ve had in Ordino the last two weeks parentheses visit to Casa d’Areny Plandolit with James, an Oxford student, livestock festival, and a hike up to Mirador Turer).
Casa d’Areny Plandolit
In the center of the old village of Ordino is Casa d’Areny Plandolit. It’s similar to the other “Casas” in Andorra in that it was occupied for centuries by an Andorran family and is now a museum that provides in an interesting glimpse into Andorra’s past. Casa d’Areny Plandolit was a fun visit, and you can easily tell the difference in lifestyle and status than from Casa Ruell in Sispony, La Massana.
We also visited the dramatic postal museum. It was dramatic because the audiovisual discussed the beginning of the postal service, which started with Roman roads, to the what it is now.
Andorra has an interesting postal system because initially there was no system: individuals tasked themselves with delivering the mail and it was a sort of community service. Now, they use both the French mail system “La Poste” and the Spanish mail system “Correos”. To preserve the cultural heritage of the communal nature of mail, it is actually still free to send mail domestically within Andorra. But as you can imagine, most mail likely leaves the country since it is such a small place.
After, a delicious meal at Restaurant Topic. I’ve certainly missed good sea food!
After lunch, we walked from Ordino to l’Aldosa, where our friend Clare lives. We had some delicious cake and she shared a video of a presentation her daughter did about her amazing life of travel, before she unfortunately passed away from cancer. I was quite inspired to continue traveling like she did and making the most of my life!
At school he following Tuesday, I went to borrow a cord from the IT desk and the man working there said he saw me in Ordino this weekend. He said “you were with a boy and you looked very lost!”
Livestock Festival
I had the loveliest day at the Livestock Festival in Ordino. We started off with visiting an artisan craft and food market and then watching traditional folk dances.
Traditional Dances in Ordino
The traditional folk dances were quite fun to watch, even with the sun beating down harshly and the music blaring. I loved to see the different types of dresses and dances. Some dances clearly incorporated the rural, pastoral life of Andorra, with women carrying baskets of vegetables and men with pitchforks. Another dance paid homage to the “smugglers” of Andorra. Smugglers seem to be an important part of Andorra’s culture and traditions since the Carnaval also incorporates a smuggling re-creation. I actually met a French customs agent who told me he still often has to run after people trying to smuggle cigarettes into France!
I had another delicious lunch with the Teaching Assistants in Andorra, followed by a hike!
I probably wasn’t wearing the proper attire for this hike dash dash and the glass of wine at lunch certainly wasn’t very energizing, but that didn’t stop me! I got to enjoy two different beautiful views of Ordino.
Finally, when I came down I bought some candies from the market and went to go listen to some folk music! I might have also payed down in the park while listening, because I was beat! I heard this really amazing instrument with keys and also a handle you spin. Chloe said it was some sort of portable harpsichord.
Mirador de Turer, view of Ordino in the Spring
For anyone who thought otherwise, Ordino certainly es viu!
