Never heard of International Dance Day? I have to confess I hadn't, though it was first introduced worldwide in 1982.

HOLY WEEK & EASTER TRADITIONS IN ANDORRA In Andorra (Pyrenees), a Catholic country, the Christian traditions of Easter live on. HOLY WEEK starts on Palm Sunday, (this year on the 9th April) when people go to Mass to commemorate Jesus’ triumphant entry into…

Culture FROM THE CRADLE ” Look! Look! Oh how adorable! Where’s my mobile? I must have a photo!” This is the common reaction of foreigners to their first sighting of the very smallest Andorrans on a cultural excursion. It often takes place on Sant Jordi, or…

THE ANDORRA WRITERS’ CIRCLE 1993 and life in Andorra was buzzing. René de Knight, an African-American jazz pianist, had invited me round to his flat to meet Margaret Shaida. She was still aglow from having won that year’s Glenfiddich Award for best food book…

PICK OF THE WEEK: Andorra (Pyrenees) Main places: Andorra la Vella, Escaldes-Engordany, San Julia de Loria, La Massana, Ordino, Encamp, Canillo, Pas de la Casa PICK OF THE WEEK DANCE SWAN LAKE: Tuesday, 25th April at 20h at the Centre de Congressos, Andorra…

PICK OF THE WEEK: Andorra (Pyrenees) Main places: Andorra la Vella, Escaldes-Engordany 5th ANDORRA INTERNATIONAL SAX FEST 2017. THIS IS A REMARKABLE OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL SAX LOVERS! From Monday, 17th to  Saturday, 22nd April, the 5th edition of the Andorra…

PICK OF THE WEEK: Andorra (Pyrenees) Main places: Andorra la Vella, Escaldes-Engordany, San Julia de Loria, La Massana, Ordino, Encamp, Canillo, Pas de la Casa CINEMA DIRECT The Icing on Andorra’s Cultural Cake. This week, on Thursday, 30th March at 20.15…

PICK OF THE WEEK: Andorra (Pyrenees) Main places: Andorra la Vella, Escaldes-Engordany, San Julia de Loria, La Massana, Ordino, Encamp, Canillo, Pas de la Casa PICK OF THE WEEK: OPERA RIGOLETTO: Thursday, 6th April at 20.30 at the Cinemes Illa Carlemany,…

PICK OF THE WEEK: Andorra (Pyrenees) Main places: Andorra la Vella, Escaldes-Engordany, San Julia de Loria, La Massana, Ordino, Encamp, Canillo, Pas de la Casa EXHIBITION OF THE WEEK While the recently opened Museu Carmen Thyssen, regales us with paintings…

JAUME RIBA SABATÉ – PHOTOGRAPHER EXTRAORDINAIRE “L’art és imaginació convertint la vida en art”. (Art is imagination converting life into art’) I first met Jaume when visiting his small shop in the village of La Massana. A tall, handsome, gentle man with…

LA PUÇA, MY FAVOURITE BOOKSHOP. I love bookshops. For a time as a teenager I worked in Britain’s oldest, Hatchard’s, which opened in 1797. But my favourite bookshop in all the world is right here in Andorra (Pyrenees). Walking slowly up the cobbled street…

PICK OF THE WEEK: Andorra (Pyrenees) Main places: Andorra la Vella, Escaldes-Engordany, San Julia de Loria, La Massana, Ordino, Encamp, Canillo, Pas de la Casa PICK OF THE WEEK MUSIC MOZART’S REQUIEM MASS IN D MINOR THURSDAY, 9th March at 20.30 in the Centre…

PICK OF THE WEEK: Andorra (Pyrenees) Main places: Andorra la Vella, Escaldes-Engordany, San Julia de Loria, La Massana, Ordino, Encamp, Canillo, Pas de la Casa PICK OF THE WEEK! MUSIC LA TRAVIATA OPERA: Saturday, 4th March at 20.30 and Sunday, 5th March at…

British Writers in Andorra (Pyrenees): an occasional series Last week Edward Allcard launched his fourth book, Solo Around Cape Horn and Beyond. Now 102, he is a naval architect by profession and a solo circumnavigator and writer by inclination. You may ask…

THE MADRIU VALLEY Andorra’s World Cultural Heritage Landscape and the battle to preserve it. Walking the rugged Madriu Valley, bounded as it is by mountain ridges, with spectacular cliffs, glacial lakes and high, stone-strewn Pyrenean pastures that descend…

THE SOUND OF THE GRALLA Do you like music? Are you adventurous? When travelling, do you enjoy sampling the local culture? If so there’s a treat in store for you this coming Sunday. At 13h in the Church of Sant Esteve, Andorra la Vella a group from Catalonia…

The Metamorphosis of a Nation: How a 1929 Hydro power deal led to a 2019 Skiing World Cup Final From time immemorial, when winter swirled through the valleys of Andorra (Pyrenees), everything shut down. In the 1920s, the hotels of this tiny speck of a country…

“It never ceases to amaze me how this tiny country, set high in the Pyrenees, yet manages to offer residence and visitors alike, a real smorgasbord of cultural activity”, says Clare Allcard, author and freelance journalist. Clare Allcard, author and freelance…

PICK OF THE WEEK: Andorra (Pyrenees) Main places: Andorra la Vella, Escaldes-Engordany, San Julia de Loria, La Massana, Ordino, Encamp, Canillo, Pas de la Casa 4th/5th/6th January. Three Kings/ Reis/ Twelfth Night/ Epiphany! Standby! Gab your woolly hats…

Andorra’s Nativity Scenes and New Year’s Celebrations It seems to me that Europe can be divided between the Christmas tree countries and those that favour the pessebre, or nativity scene. Until recently Andorra (Pyrenees) was very much a nativity scene homeland…

ANDORRA’S INTERNATIONAL CHRISTMAS You’ll never guess where I went on Sunday. To a children’s pantomime! Yes, really! Here in Andorra. For the past eight weeks some 36 international and local children, encouraged by some 24 mums, rehearsed their parts twice…