Andorra

Back in my junior tennis days, I became close with the family that owned the academy where I trained in Florida. They also had a tennis academy in Barcelona and invited me to spend part of the summer there with them. Knowing I was on a mission to visit every country in the world, and that getting to Andorra without a car wasn’t easy, Simona and her daughter, Victoria, offered to drive me there.

We wound through small Catalan towns before arriving in Andorra. There, Simona reunited with a close friend she hadn’t seen in more than a decade, who kindly spent the day showing us around the country. As we explored, she shared stories about Andorra’s history, traditions, and culture, giving me an appreciation for a place I knew very little about beforehand. I also learned that Andorra is the only country in the world where Catalan is the official language. Despite its small size, it has a distinct identity all its own, and I left with a much greater appreciation for one of Europe’s smallest nations.