Lleida, Andorra and the Catalan Pyrenees

Despite being the largest of the four Catalan provinces, the Province of Lleida is the least accessible and most difficult to define. The province is, however, full of history and mesmerising natural beauty, and given that it is completely inland, it has no coastline or beaches. This means that its many delights are completely off the conventional tourist track.

While Barcelona, Girona and Tarragona seem to follow relatively logical boundaries, Lleida Province is the clearest example of the fact that the Catalan provinces were imposed by politicians from Madrid in the 18th century. If you glance at a map of Catalonia, you will see that the north and south of the province have very little in common, and given that the provincial capital is in the extreme south, Lleida Province seems a rather strange name for this varied region. In fact, I would suggest that it would make a lot of sense to divide it into two – the Catalan Pyrenees Province in the north and Lleida Province in the south would be much more manageable.

The northern comarques of Val d’Aran, Pallars Sobirà, Alta Ribagorça, Pallars Jussà, Cerdenya, Alt Urgell and Solsonès are covered by the mighty snow-topped Pyrenees, which in winter months provide some of the best and most reasonably-priced skiing in Europe. For some strange reason, though, the idea of sitting in a ski station drinking gin and tonic whilst nursing a broken leg has never really appealed to me. However, roaming around the nature reserves with their lakes, peaks and prairies and then having a quiet beer in one of the medieval villages that hide awe-inspiring Romanesque architecture is quite a different matter.

This part of the world is deep-heart Catalonia and is just one of the nerve endings of the Catalan psyche that I seem to have tapped into. For more than two thousand years the Pyrenees have provided a frontier against invaders from the north and west but also a safe haven to hide out in when attacks came from the south or from the sea. Two thousand years ago even the Romans didn’t manage to penetrate these mountain strongholds, and 700 hundred years later the Moors just came charging through on their way to the south of France. They decimated the fertile Catalan coastal plains, but within just a couple of decades the survivors were able to come down from the hills and repopulate their lands. This is why these tiny Pyrenean villages contain such ancient Romanesque churches. It is from here that the remaining Christians could push south and reclaim their territory.

So, for both historical and geographical reasons, the Pyrenees are the core of Catalunya Vella, or Old Catalonia, and interestingly are much more accessible from the ‘Old Catalan’ provinces of Girona and Barcelona. The way the valleys connect to the sea means that it has always been much easier to get into the mountains from Ripoll in Girona Province or Vic in Barcelona Province than it is from the city of Lleida.

The south of the province is known as ‘Terres de Lleida’ or Lands of Lleida and is much flatter. This region is made up of the comarques of Noguera, Segarra, Pla d’Urgell, Urgell, Les Garrigues and Segrià, which is the southernmost comarca with the city of Lleida in its south-west corner almost touching on the rest of Spain. These rich agricultural plains are host to a very different kind of beauty and have a distinct story to tell. This is Catalunya Nova, or New Catalonia, and remained under Moorish control for nearly three centuries longer than the north. Consequently, its main architectural features are not secluded churches but mighty Templar fortresses that were built to hold the frontier. Furthermore, the fact that the Moors were there for much longer and that Lleida is still the conduit into Castile, providing the main road and rail links with Madrid, means that Northern Catalans view ‘Lleidatans’ with some suspicion. Even now, someone who speaks Catalan but comes across as rude and uncivilised can provoke the comment ‘De Lleida ha de ser’ – ‘He must be from Lleida’!

This is probably unfair because the region is endowed with some beautiful gentle scenery and the Templar castles are truly breathtaking but, as someone who lives in Barcelona with family ties in Girona and French Catalunya, the Lleidatans do come across as being a little bit strange at times.