Engordany, the village hiding inside the parish name

The parish name is misleading. Most people just say “Escaldes” and forget that Engordany was a separate village, with its own church, farmhouses and bridge. Andorra Turisme describes it as a place often masked by the parish’s name, which is precisely what I like about it. In twenty minutes you swap shop windows for the Andorra of a century ago.

One bridge, two villages

Escaldes and Engordany grew up on either side of the Valira d’Orient, joined by the Engordany bridge. The design is medieval, a single round arch with a flat cobbled deck, but the stones you cross were laid in 1785, after a great flood carried away the 1772 bridge. One detail I enjoy is that the two ends don’t match, because each bank sits at a different level. You reach it from Avinguda Carlemany or along the Camí d’Ensucaranes, and the Tosca bridge is a few steps upstream. I cover both in medieval bridges in Andorra.

Walking the Engordany route

The route leaves Plaça Santa Anna, by the tourist office, and climbs the Camí de la Peletera to the church of Sant Jaume. Along the way, panels introduce houses such as Cal Rafel, Cal Ricart and Cal Vicari and explain life in the early 1900s, when water, crops and livestock shaped everything. There’s only 60 m of ascent, and it’s meant to be done on foot by anyone.

Sant Jaume already appears in 1040 as a property of the monastery of Sant Cerni de Tavèrnoles, but the old building collapsed in the 1950s. What stands there now is modern, consecrated on 24 July 1992 on the same spot. I wouldn’t go in for the architecture. I’d go for what’s next to it.

What’s right by the bridge

Before or after the walk, it’s worth lingering by the river. Between the Engordany and Tosca bridges stands Espai Caldes, a contemporary arts space of more than 400 m² with a glass viewpoint jutting out over the Valira. You need to arrange a visit in advance on (+376) 890 897. Those streets also hold Javier Balmaseda’s “El agua y la forma”, a trail of fountains, pipes and washhouses recalling that this parish grew rich on thermal water. I’d string it all together in a single morning, since everything is a few steps apart, and finish with a coffee in the upper town before heading up the hill.

The view from Sant Jaume

Right beside the church, at 1,100 m, the Sant Jaume d’Engordany viewpoint faces south over Escaldes, Andorra la Vella and the mouth of the Madriu valley. Oaks, holm oaks and nettle trees surround it, a surprisingly Mediterranean patch of woodland inside the town. If your legs are willing, paths carry on to Els Vilars and its pre-Romanesque church.

For everything else in the parish, from Caldea to the lake, see my guide to Escaldes-Engordany.