Being Flexible in the Pyrenees
Our hotel in Gaillard, France (on the outskirts of Geneva) worked out. Our room was nothing fancy; the bed sagged in the middle and was small. The hotel served us a decent meal for dinner.
Neither of us slept very well because the bed was so uncomfortable. But we were just a short 20 minute drive to the Geneva airport.
We arrived early and had no problems turning in our rental car. It was sad to say goodbye to reliable "Slippy", much like sending a dog to the pound. We're glad it happened fast! We needed two trollies to walk all of our luggage to the airport, electing to forego the rental car shuttle, which would have required an extra load and unload. It was a bit of a hike, but it was worth it. We got quite a lot of help from various fellow travelers along the way.
We had enough time to navigate through the insane sea of people to drop off our baggage and find our gate. To no one's surprise, the French air traffic controllers were on strike. Presumably because fewer of them were working, this caused our flight to be one hour late in departing from Geneva. Since we were flying directly to Barcelona with no connecting flight, this didn't cause us any problems.
As we flew out, we caught one more amazing view of the majestic Mont Blanc floating above the clouds. We could also see L'Aiguille du Midi, where we stood just 2 days prior.
The flight lasted just over an hour. We quickly collected our bags and, using two more trollies, forged ahead to a different terminal to retrieve our rental car. The new rental car is a white Mercedes which we have named "Brakey", because of the asinine self-braking mechanism that overreacts to every lane departure!
The weather in Barcelona was gloriously sunny and warm, about 70 degrees! It reminded us of California, arid with plentiful palm trees. It's right on the coast, and Brock was excited to see lots of sailboats sailing on the ocean as we flew in.
According to our navigation, we had a 2-1/2 hour drive to our destination, the Sport Hotel Hermitage & Spa in Soldeu, Andorra. That seemed pretty reasonable. We were both exhausted, sleep-deprived, and looking forward to sleeping on a comfy bed and being in the lap of luxury! It didn't quite work out that way.
It was hard to imagine, but just 2-1/2 hours from sunny, warm Barcelona, it had been snowing in Andorra all day. We reached a point where traffic was crawling. We thought maybe the border guards were stopping every car. But that wasn't it. Eventually, on the windy mountainous switchbacks, traffic came to a standstill. We got a couple of feet into Andorra, just 6 miles from our destination, when it was clear we weren't going any farther. It was still daylight, but it was very windy and obviously snowing up higher. Brock got out of the car and walked a mile up ahead to see what was going on. The road was effectively closed, and the situation was poorly managed. Cars simply couldn't get up the hill without chains, and a snow plow blocked the road. We didn't have chains on our car and we weren't sure we had snow tires either. Most cars were turning around and leaving, so we decided rather than risk sleeping in the car all night, that might be the best move. We hoped that in the meantime, the snow plow would get the road cleared and that it would be safer to return in the morning.
The carnage on our descent was shocking, yet exactly what we have come to expect. We passed a line of parked cars at least 5 miles long! Multiple parties, becoming impatient, had attempted to pass, despite the fact that there was nowhere to go. This resulted in the downhill lane being blocked many times. Naturally, the cars they were attempting to pass would then prevent them from getting back in line, further exacerbating the problem. In addition, multiple cars had collided with airbags deployed, horns honking, abandoned. We passed several cars abandoned by the side of the road, buried in snow. Way back down the hill, one lone police car was trying to weave through the insanity to address the situation, but no one would give him room to proceed!
Frazzled, nerves completely shot, we drove about 30 minutes down the hill, squeezing by the blockages, trying to beat the rest of the crowd before they realized the helplessness of their efforts to reach Andorra. With adept effort we got the last room at the Hotel Terminus in a little Spanish town called Puigcerda. Our room was nothing fancy but seemed like a palace compared with the room in Gaillard. It was a nice, spacious room for 88 Euros! The bed was king-size, super comfy, it was quiet, and we slept like babies. Just what the doctor ordered!
The next morning, we waited until the sun was out and it warmed up a little bit to head up and try again to get to our hotel in Andorra. We left Puigcerda at 9:30; our navigation predicted it would take us 30 minutes. We encountered a bottleneck about 8 miles from our destination; we suspected that some of these people slept overnight in their vehicles. But it was not nearly as bad as the night before. Once the traffic began moving, it continued moving. We passed the area where we had turned around the night before and breathed sighs of relief! We were glad that most of the cars were turning into another ski area that we encountered first. We split off and drove through a tunnel. Before long, at 10:30 a.m., like a beacon of light, our hotel came into view! We finally made it!
It was the palace we were hoping for! Really, this place is amazing! (Disclosure: some of these photos came from the hotel website. Including the ones with no snow. There was lots of snow!)
At street level, you walk into the beautiful lobby.
It is an enormous complex. The lobby is on the top floor; the guest rooms are on 8 floors below. Our spacious suite is on the 6th floor below.
We have a nice balcony with a great view of the ski slopes.
The pool and spa area is a multi-level work of art, both indoors and out! There are multiple jacuzzis, saunas and steam rooms. The main pool has many water features. There are pools of all different temperatures, including an ice bath and a cold pool with loose stones for you to walk on.
Brock captured a nice sunset from the balcony.
Especially considering its remote, isolated, harsh location and how difficult it must have been to build here, this hotel truly deserves its 5-star designation. It is without a doubt the nicest ski resort hotel we have stayed at on our 2-month long sojourn, or for that matter, our entire ski lives. We are going out with a bang!
We are in for a relaxing, cushy visit to Andorra! After what we went through to get here, I dare say we've earned it!
Stay Calm and Carry On.