Santa Coloma, the oldest corner of the capital

Santa Coloma is the part of Andorra la Vella that never makes the shop-window photos. It lies down the valley on the way to the border, and at first glance it’s all motorbike dealers and main road. Yet a handful of lanes hold the oldest things in the parish, from a pre-Romanesque church to the house where Andorra briefly had a king nobody had asked for.

Twelve thousand years of history close by

The tourist board lists El Cedre, in Santa Coloma, among the country’s first settlements, alongside the Margineda rock shelter and l’Antiux in Escaldes. Above the village, about 150 metres over the valley floor, rises the granite outcrop of the Roc d’Enclar, which the Andorra la Vella tourist office calls an open book on the country’s history. Up there is Sant Vicenç d’Enclar, one of the oldest churches in the Principality.

To tie it all together, the Comú has signposted the Arc Patrimonial, some 5 km on foot from Santa Coloma to la Margineda, mostly on historic paths. Start wherever you like and go in whichever order suits you.

The church and Espai Columba

This is why you come. Santa Coloma church is pre-Romanesque in origin and gained its round Lombard bell tower in the 12th century, four storeys and about 18 metres tall. The tourist board says there isn’t another like it in the Principality. The apse was covered in murals, largely sold off in 1933 and recovered by the state in 2007, but they could no longer go back on the walls.

So it’s two visits in one. In the church, a six-minute projection for groups of up to ten puts the paintings back where they were. A few metres away, Espai Columba displays the originals. A single €7 ticket gets you into both, and until May you can go any day from Tuesday to Saturday.

The Torre dels Russos and Boris I

Heading down towards la Margineda you pass the Torre dels Russos, a 1917 granite house designed by César Martinell, a pupil of Gaudí, for Nikolai Popov, a Russian refugee who settled in Andorra. It was restored in 1997 and is privately owned, so you’ll see it from outside.

Its fame comes from a lodger. According to the tourist board, Boris Skossyreff, who tried to turn Andorra into a monarchy and declared himself Boris I between 8 and 24 July 1934, lived here for a while, which is how the house got its nickname. For me it’s one of the stories that best capture how odd and endearing this country can be, and it’s right by the road.

What else is there?

The old core keeps traditional buildings such as Casa Riberaygua, singled out by the tourist office for how well it’s preserved. For something more active, the Sant Vicenç d’Enclar via ferrata starts at the end of Carrer dels Barrers. It’s rated moderate, free to use and climbs 190 m, with about two hours on the route after a 15-minute approach. If you catch the bug, more routes are in via ferratas in Andorra.

Then there are the shops, which is what brings most people here. According to the tourist board, Santa Coloma specialises in motorbike, 4x4 and tyre accessories, camping and caravanning gear, and has a large sports superstore. The motorbike shops line Avinguda d’Enclar.

Reaching it, and how much time to give it

From the capital’s centre, head towards Spain along Avinguda de Santa Coloma, which later becomes Avinguda d’Enclar. It’s the same road the tourist board uses to describe the way to the via ferrata and the Enclar valley path, both starting at the end of Carrer dels Barrers.

I’d give it an afternoon. An hour and a half for the church and Espai Columba, half an hour to wander the old core and see the Torre dels Russos, and the rest for walking down to la Margineda on the Arc Patrimonial or up to Sant Vicenç. If time is tight, stick to the church and the museum.

One tip for planning online. Santa Coloma de Gramenet, on the edge of Barcelona, swamps the search results, so always add «Andorra» when you look up opening times, routes or maps, or you’ll end up reading about the wrong town entirely.