Andorra May 13-15 2011

Andorra la Vella 

With a "base camp" on a catalonian coast it´s only a couple of hours of driving to the duty-free paradise  Andorra. Fresh mountain air, cheap and good hotels, duty-free sales of alcohol and cosmetics make Andorra into an attractive destination whenever we are in Catalonia. However the trip didn´t go so smoothly as we hoped. On our way up to the mountains, TTT got problems with the breaks. Being on the top of the mountain serpentine road without the breaks functioning brings some x-factor to the roadtrip :)
   
Vis større kart

                     

On our way to Andorra 

On our way to Andorra - "Independencia - Socialisme". 

Here´s the first TTT stop in the mountains. We´re making the phone call to Norway, trying to figure out what wrong could it be with the breaks. The next call was to the norwegian automobile federation NAF, where out TTT is the proud member. They had to take contact with the spanish automobile association, which again had to establish contact with the catalonian one and the the one in Andorra.  The fact that it was Saturday afternoon din´t make our situation any easier, but some how we got the assistance in form of the car evacuator, which took TTT to some local service. 

Here´s TTT being taken on evacuator....

....and drived away to some unknown local car service. 

The reparation couldn´t be started before monday, so we had to get ourselves a hotel room and the rental car until then. Being stuck in the capital Andorra la Vella practically without money - because we didn´t know what we should expect from the local service and prices, we had to use or 2 legs the next 2 days to explore this capital of the duty free shopping up in the mountains.

Elvis cow in Andorra la Vella

Beautiful nature from mountain top. I was taking the pictures around while waiting for Rune to figure out what to do with the broken car. 

Still in a good mood before knowing that we will be stuck here for the next 2 days. 

A picture taken from the TTT still on the run 

Mountain flowers in Andorra

TTT posing with an older firemen parked by the local fire station. 

In Andorra la Vella 

Andorra la Vella 

Andorra la Vella 

Local road policeman doesn´t see us coming down from the hill without being able to break

The first thing on monday, we took the rental renault and visited TTT in the local service. Were were told that the work could take up to 3 days. So the only thing which was left for us is coming back to Platja d´Aro and then coming back to Andorra to pick up TTT. 

It was ready as we were told. The price surprised us a lot in a positive way. With around 4% in VAT, the local prices are way to much more attractive then the domestic norwegian ones. Should consider repairing the car in Andorra the next time :) 

Passing by Montserrat mountains on the way back home to Platja d´Aro. We´ll be back to Andorra in a couple of days. 

Our rental Renault with Andorra plates took us back to Spain