La Massana stands at a height of 1.240m above sea level. La Massana also embraces Comapedrosa and the Pic del Pla de l’Estany the two highest peaks in Andorra. As a small town La Massana has its own special attractiveness, with its typical houses intermingling with other buildings more modern in conception.

It is a center of great commercial vitality and considerable tourists importance. The number of tourists who visit La Massana has continued to grow during the post few years, visitors come from close to home and also from further afield. This has had no mean effect on the accelerating pace of progress of town. In the center of the old part of the town there stands the Romanesque church with its elegant rectangular bell-tower and a pyramidal roof. In the interior of the church there are items of very fine wrought-iron work plus a baroque altar with twelve images. In the center of La Massana there still stands a hundred-year-old pine tree. One could almost say that it has complated from its crown how the town has grown into its balanced modern shape, a shape that has grown spontaneously but witch has still managed not to spoil the views of those older parts of the town which seem to keep alive the pulsating reality of La Massana’s medieval past.

Houses are everything in traditional Pyrenean societies such as that of Andorra. They combine the concepts of family and estate and become the main elements of social organisation. Casa Rull at Sispony was one of the wealthiest houses in the parish of La Massana. Over the centuries it went through periods of greater or lesser prosperity, lands were bought and sold, debts were incurred and cleared. Heirs and younger brothers, heiresses and daughters-in-law, farm hands and servants have all lived under this roof, following the thread of the history of the country and evolving with it. A big house like this is a living organism which grows and adapts to the family’s changing needs. We must bear in mind that the house was not only lived in but a whole series of tasks connected with agriculture were carried out there.

The main part of the building of Casa Rull dates from the 17th century. Although the house was a wealthy one, there is no great luxury nor are there any distinguishing marks. Today it has a ground floor, two upper floors and an attic. But this was not always the case. Casa Rull, when first built, only had a ground floor (with the entrance and staircase), one upper floor (with the kitchen, the bakery, the oven and the bedrooms) and a second upper floor serving as an attic. The roof had four slopes, not two as at present. Changes were made in the 17th century which basically affected the ground floor with the piercing of new windows and the building of a balcony. The main facade was also plastered over at that time.

At some time in the 19th century the house suffered a fire. Reconstruction affected above all the roof which went from four slopes to two.

Between Ordino and La Massana is the Farga Rossell forge, owned by Joaquim de Riba, which has now been converted into a visitors’ centre. It was in operation from 1846 and, along with the Farga Areny forge, was the last to close down, in 1876. Its buildings are testimony to the iron manufacturing process and show the development of the techniques for obtaining the mineral as well as the history of the forge itself.

The route continues to the Vall d’Ordino, and the Mina de Llorts mine. This is a small mine, which was opened by specialists from L’Arieja at the end of the 19th century to try to find new mineral reserves. However, it never went into commercial operation. It has 30 metres of galleries and the visit takes around 20 minutes.

This Romanesque building was formely home to a serie of 12th century mural pictures from the workshop of the Mestre de Santa Coloma, which are now in a private collection. The interior of the church contains paintings depictiong the last Supper in an early Gothic style, dated from the 14th century. These is also a 16th century altarpiece and a series of pictures from the 17th century, dedicated to Sant Cristófol

This medieval bridge is 21.20 meters land and has a maximun height of 5.55 meters. It was the link between Ordino en Andorra la Vella

Originally Romanesque, this building may have been renovated in the 17th century, at which point it was extended significantly. The remains from the Romanesque era include a font, regarded as one of Andorra’s finest, and a wrought iron candelbrum. There are five baroque altarpieces inside the church.

In the Botella pass, on the way down to the Setúria valley, is the startling spectacle of a precariously balanced monumental teacup, 13 metres in diameter.

Positioned here, in this open space, we might imagine it to be an instrument for taking astronomic measurements, like an armillary hemisphere.

But no - it’s just a cup of tea, and it looks as though it’s falling over

Syspony is a picturesque village situated in the Valley of the river Muntaner, not far from El Pla de la Costa.

Its most interesting monument is the attractive Romanesque church of Sant Joan.

This typical Andorra village is situated on the left bank of the river Valira.

Anyós is defended by a great rocky outcrop atop which there stands the Romanesque chapel of Sant Cristófor, from where there are magnificent panoramic view to be enjoyed of nearby valley, one of the loveliest in the whole Principality.

L’Aldosa is a clearly Andorra village, small in size, and from the site there are marvellous views of the surrounding country.

The village has gradually become an attractive tourist center which has never disappointed visitors.

Erts is a picturesque village whose charming old houses make up a block of grey which makes an attractive contrast to the whitness of the church.

Near Erts lies the Vall de Setúria a valley of outstanding beauty, easily reached from Erts.

This small, picturesque village, typical of Andorra, is situed in the valley of Setúria.

It is an important tourist center in the Principality of Andorra and has various modern hotel complexes; the table water produced here enjoys a well-earned reputation both in Spain and France.

Of interest is the church, in the interior of which there is a valuable 18th-century painting depicting the Virgin de les Neus (virgin of the snow). The bell-tower also deserves mention.

The surrounding countryside is of outstanding beauty.

It is a landscape in which there is a predominance of the greens of the valley and the blues and greys of the mountains.

A picturesque small town, some of whose houses are old and reconstructed, others modern; they all surrounded the fine Romanesque church with its square bell-tower and pyramidal roof; the uppermost of the three Lombard storeys with a mullioned window.

Dedicated to Sant Climent , in the interior of the church there are the remains of old in fresco paintings, a fine 13th -century polychrome wood carving of the Virgin and another polychrome Christ. Pal has a splendid skiing complex.

The countryside around has great powers of attraction-the grey-roofed houses-constrasting with the green of the land which surrounds the small town.