From Winter to Summer.. and some other additional things.

Remember how I´ve told you few days ago that it´s still winter in Andorra? 


Well, in these couple of days, the weather has changed a lot!! It has changes that much that we´re in the middle of Summer time! The temperature went from 4 degrees to 24+ degrees. During the night we sleep with the windows wide open, during the day we´ve changed winter jackets to summer t-shirts... and let me tell you my personal opinion - I don´t find it normal! Where the hack has Spring gone?! 
Yesterday I´ve spent almost whole morning doing things with my lil garden.. I was checking my plants, replanting and planting some new one I got for weekend and what I´ve noticed is that neither plants like this weather. Till now my petunias were supposed to almost start flowering but they´re not! As the air here in Andorra is also very, very dry I have to spray them with water every day in order to create some humidy.


Well, don´t get me wrong I am not complaining about hot, sunny weather - I am happy that I can leave my winter jackets finaly in the closed till November/December but I am neither happy for such a sudden changes in the air. My grandma would say now that it ain´t good at all.. that the Mother Nature is playing and warning us about something. And she may be  right!


Last night I watched a documentary which made me cry a lot. It is about killing dolphins in one of the Japanese bays/areas called Taiji. Every year, around September tousands of dolphins are killed in that bay in order to have more fish in the sea. I mean - what the hell?! Really!? And that that dolphin meat was given to the schools as a lunch for kids!? I was angry to see what humans are able to do, how cruel they can be with an animal life and how hard they treat the nature. No wonder why the Nature is kicking our asses sometimes, we deserve it!
If you are interested in watching this documentary, sign the petition against this cruelty - more infomation you may find here!


Anyway, long story short - my weekend was full of activities and nice people. We had such a nice dinner at my friend´s home on Saturday and while we were having a dinner I couldn´t not to think about how each pair sitting on that same table has it´s own language they speak while alone at home. For example - Churry and I, we speak in English all the time; Ma Pierre (our host) and her husband Patricio - they speak French; and Merce and Ricard they speak in Catalan.... and all of us - we were speaking in Spanish (Castellano). This is one of the things that I like about Andorra - so many different things, backgrounds and mix of cultures in one small, tinny place in the middle of mountain. :) How great is that? Of course, some people need time to get used to it, but once you do you lear to appreciate it even more. 


And last but not least, to conclude this post for today - what I love about Saturdays is going to La Seu´s market (first Spanish village on 15min away from Andorran border). I always have a great time there. So many colors, smells, tastes... mmm yummy! And so cheap! Here in Andorra we don´t have an open market but we have a lot of shops and shopping malls where you can buy fresh fruits - althoug it´s not the same experience right?! 

Market in La Seu

Market in La Seu

Waterfalls near Canillo - Cascada de les Moles

Well, till next time... Adèu! :)

Although it is the 2nd of May and the spring has started long time ago... here in Andorra it still feels a bit like winter! :) 


Majority of the hills and mountains are still covered with the snow, in the morning and in the evening hours you can not leave the house without wearing a winter jacket cause you´ll feel cold, cold breeze coming from the mountains brrrr ... It´s such a pitty that the ski resorts are closed. I am sure that the snow is still great for skiing. 


Vallnord and Grandvalira are the two biggest ski resorts here in Andorra. Grandvalira maybe has better slops but I prefer Vallnord :)


The only sign of spring that I have are my recently seeded flowers peeking out from flower pots.  Well, I guess that these are all advantages and disadvantages of living in the mountains. 


Here are some of the photos from yesterday´s walk around the Lake of Engolasters (Llac d´Engolasters), as the mountain roads are still covered with snow - short walk around the lake is more than enough. Can´t wait summer time to explore more the mountain paths! :)

Hope it´s warmer at your place, wherever you are! :)
Have a nice day!


Adéu!
T.

Andorra increïble.

Not even a year ago, I´ve moved to live in Andorra. I must say that so far this has been the biggest change I have ever done in my life – and I don´t regret it at all.

The reason for coming here was and still is -  my Churry! :)  How we met and how our love story has begun, I will tell you some other time.  Today I wanted to tell you more about the country I live in.

Andorra is small country, situated in the middle of mountains – in the middle of Pyrenees  massif. If you look for Andorra on Google Earth or any other map, you will realize that it is situated in between two bigger European countries – Spain and France, which trough history and time have influenced and shaped a lot now-a-days history and culture of Andorran people.

As far as I know, Andorra was small piece of land which nobody wanted to conquer, neither French nor Spanish people, so with time people who have lived here since who knows when,  have decided to create their own country and nationality – and they did it well.

One of the most interesting facts which dates since 11^th century is that Andorran constitution has been regulated by Charles the Great (Charlemagne) and bishop from La Seu d´Urgell. Back in time,  being as small as Andorra and with time pretty desirable piece of land - Andorra needed support and protection from other surrounding countries, so somewhere in the middle of 11^th century bishop from La Seu and Lord of Caboet made a pack to protect territory of Andorran valleys.  In order to protect its own territory daughter of Arnau of Caboet married   the Viscount of Castellbò and both became Viscounts of Castellbò and Cerdanya. Some years later,  their daughter - Ermessenda got married to  Roger Bernat II, the French Count of Foix. They became Roger Bernat II and Ermessenda I, Counts of Foix, Viscounts of Castellbò and Cerdanya, and also co-founders of Andorra, together with the Bishop of Urgell.

As the centuries were passing by and the kingdoms were changing, Andorra has always been in between these two very powerful countries influenced by their economical and political changes – and even though isolated and not present as one of the main actors on big scene of European history,  Andorra has created remarkable historical and cultural background.

In 1934 Boris Skossyreff, an adventurer tried to declare himself “Boris I, King of Andorra”.  Fortunately, this incident was stopped by Spanish authorities.

Since 1993 Andorra has been a member of United Nations and the Council of Europe.

Now-a-days we are talking about modern country, with developed tourism (especially ski resorts), banking systems, cosmetic and tobacco industry, enormous and beautiful nature resorts, wonderful mix of Catalan-French cuisine and many other things which I will be discovering for you, with time. :)

So, if  having any doubts where to spend your next holidays, far away from everyday things in the middle of nature, surrounded by all modern facilities – I think that Andorra is just the place for you. :)

Till next time, have a very nice day.  :)

Adéu!

T.

  

Breaking the Ice!

Good morning and welcome!

My name is Tijana, but majority of my friends call me "Ticko". It doesn´t have any meaning, but it´s cute and I like it. 

Long time ago I blogged, and somewhere, somehow... that blogging bug was always present, following me. It took me a lot of time to sit down again and open small part of a virtual space, create it just for me and start writting. It took me 5 years - more or less. 

In those 5 years my life has changed a lot... and so have I. 

The "only" difference between writtings back in time and now-a-days are my present location, language and people I am surrounded by everyday. 

My life has moved from one Rocky Mountain to another one. I must add that it takes time to get used to this one Rocky, but I am doing it well. At least, I think so! :)

Well, like I wrote somewhere in the blog description - I will try to make it simple and ordinary. I strongly believe that there are thousands of blogs like mine, so I am not gonna give you candies for to make you stay.. but if you find interesing what I have to say and you decide to follow my "brljoke" (an expression from my country, literary translated "messy writtings") - please, do so and be my guest! :)

Adéu!