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: Monday, 7th – Sunday, 13th January, 2019
OPERA
Thursday, 10th January at 20.15h at the Cinemes Illa Carlemany, Escaldes-Engordany. Cinema Direct from the Verona Arena. Andrea Bocelli: Intimissimi on Ice. With over 80 million albums sold, Bocelli is collaborating in a new venture. For the first time, an ice spectacular brings together major talents of opera and pop music with famous world ice skaters. Under the direction of Damians Michieletto, Bocelli will sing some of opera’s most emblematic arias while the likes of Evgeny Plushenko, (three-times world champion figure skater) Stéphane Lambiel (two-time world champion) and Shiguka Arakawa (former World and Olympic champion) will take over the rink.
MUSIC
Monday, 7th January at 22h at Hotel Màgic, La Massana. (Free) Vibrand Concert in Clau de Soul. On Mondays the week starts with the best vibrations, with live music and with the songs you like to sing! We are waiting for you to enjoy a concert that is born of soul and goes through different styles such as funky, bag, jazz, reggae trip hop …, from the successes of current and evergreen performers such as Jamiroquai, Sting, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars, Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone, Joss Stone, Adele and Tom Jobim, Toquinho, among others. ALSO on Thursday 10th at 17.30h at Sport Hotel Village, Soldeu. Friday 11th at 20.30h at Hotel Piolets Centre Soldeu, Canillo. Saturday, 12th at 21.30h at Anyós Park, La Massana.
Saturday, 12th at 18.30h at the Casa Pairal, Ordino. Singing of Christmas carols by Ordino’s Coral Casamanya.
Saturday, 12th at 18h at the Annapurna-Ansalonga Apartments, Ordino. (42°33’56.2″N 1°31’32.1″E) Classic Ordino: Music in a cup is held in various Ordino Hotels with the participation of children’s choirs and students from the country’s music schools. A cup of hot chocolate will be offered to all members of the audience.
FESTIVALS
ENCAMP’S FESTIVAL OF ENCANTS & ESCUDELLA OF SANT ANTONI
Sunday, 13th January at approximately 13h for the Encants and 13.30h for the Escudella in the Plaça Sant Miquel. If Encamp has a traditional dish par excellence, it is the escudella or stew. So much so that, since 1987, it has become known as the Sant Joan of Escudella, celebrated in Encamp every year on the Sunday nearest the Feast of Sant Antoni (17th January), and in Pas de la Casa, one week later. Around 1,500 portions of escudella stew are distributed among the assistants, made with more than 3,000 meatballs, 700 litres of broth, chicken, bacon, rice, chickpeas, vegetables and the expert hands of the padrins (‘godfathers’ ) of the parish. Just before the blessing and tasting of the escudella, the traditional Encants de Sant Antoni takes place. This is an auction to raise money for social work in the parish. Named after the fact that the bids for the auctioned products: cakes, sausages, pork, pigs’ trotters etc are all sung out by the auctioneer. (Cant means singing or chanting in Catalan).
CINEMA
Monday 7th to Wednesday, 9th January at 20.15h at the Cinemes Illa Carlemany, Escldes-Engordany Tout Le Monde Debout (A French comedy with Spanish subtitles.) Directed by Franck Dubosc. Starring Franck Dubosc, Alexandra Lamy, Elsa Zylberstein. The Story: A successful businessman, who is, by nature, flirtatious and a compulsive liar, pretends to be confined to a wheelchair in an artful bid to seduce a young woman. His clever ruse goes pear-shaped when he is introduced to his fiancé’s sister who happens to be in a wheelchair too.
EXHIBITIONS
Until Friday, 11th January in the General Council (parliament) building, Andorra la Vella: 25 years and one day. The exhibition 25 years and one day reviews Constitutional Andorra through the graphic cartoons published in the daily press. Open weekdays from 8:30h to 17:30h.
Until Sunday, 13th January at the Government exhibition hall ARTALROC, Escaldes-Engordany. Japan, the imprint of water On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Andorra and France, the Government of Andorra and the National Museum of Asian Arts – Guimet present an unprecedented and specially produced exhibition for the occasion. The exhibition features 190 photographs, most of which are hand-coloured, belonging to the museum’s collection. It is a representative sample of the photographs that were taken in Japan, during the second half of the 19th century, by both Japanese photographers (Kusakabe Kimbei, Uchida Kuichi, T. Enami, etc.) and Western (Felice Beato, Baron Raimund von Stillfried, David Welsh Studio, etc.). At that time – the end of the shogunate and the beginning of the Meiji era – taking photographs in nature was not an easy task, since most of the country was closed to the West and permits were needed to enter it. There was great difficulty in moving around the roads and with the disadvantage of carrying very heavy photographic material. Divided into 5 different areas (waterfalls, rivers, lakes, coastlines and catastrophes), this exhibition will discover water in all its magnitude through precious images, which are full of beauty, balance and serenity. The set, which is completed with a dozen traditional or ukiyo-e prints , is a tour of all the manifestations of this element, always present and of great importance in the nature and culture of Japan.
CHILDREN
Saturday, 12th January at 10.30h at the Escaldes-Engordany Art Centre, Escaldes-Engordany. (Free but register at [email protected] or tel. +376 802 255. Activity for children aged from 6 to 11.) Art Saturdays: Els irreductibles gals (The Irreducible Gauls). The adventures of Asterix and Obelix. We will discover one of the most popular works of children’s literature; the stories of the irreducible Gauls: Asterix and Obelix, from one of the best known adventures: Astheria and Cleopatra.
OTHER
Saturday, 12th January at 11h at the Tobacco Museum, Sant Julià de Lòria. (3€ for adults. Children free. Limited places. Reservations by phone to 741 545. The Escape Room is aimed at children aged between 5 and 12 who are accompanied by an adult.) Escape Room at the Tobacco Museum. Do you want to enter rooms full of hidden secrets? During Escape Room Sessions, attendees will travel to Andorra from way back in 1918, and they will find Pure and Cali, two cigarette makers looking for a way to exterminate the plague of moths that is destroying Andorra’s tobacco plantations The assistants will have to help Cali and the Pure to find the antidote, solving tests of ingenuity, dexterity, deduction and reasoning, among others, so as to exterminate the moth in less than one hour. Pura and Cali will be there!
Sunday, 13th January at 12h at the MW Electricity Museum, Encamp. (Free but reservation necessary. Maximum 10 people per visit. Tel. +376 739 111 or [email protected]) Visit the bowels of FEDA’s hydroelectric power station. This winter we see the return of visits to the seldom seen corners of the hydroelectric power station!
Culturally yours,
Clare.
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Look for about the author of the blog Clare Allcard
See also Andorra travel guide
See also Pyrenees travel guide
See also France travel guide
See also Spain travel guide
