The central part of Pyrenees is our destination for this journey – the National park of Aigestortes. We are staying in Vielha – the Spanish/Catalan town at the northern slopes of Pyrenees near the French river Garonne.
It is Friday, September 6th 2013 as we fly AirBaltic to Barcelona. Excellent views on Alps and Barcelona from above during the flight.
Its +26 Celsius in Barcelona. We take a white KIA Ceed at a car rent and take a highway to Lleida, then a local road to Vielha – 3 hours in total to get there. The mountains start soon after Lleida, we drive through more than 10 tunnels the last one being more than 5km long. At the other end of the last tunnel we arrive in Aran valley (Val d’Aran). This is an interesting region – the only one Spanish territory on the Northern slopes of Pyrenees. The NW of Catalonia is located here and one of the main French rivers – Garonne begins in this valley. Aran valley was not connected by roads to the rest of Spain until the Vielha tunnel was built.
We settle in two store apartment at a shore of Garonne featuring a spacy guest room and a mountain view. A little stroll in Vielha is the perfect activity to end the day with.