Viehla

Viehla is the most beautiful place on Earth. 

This weekend really changed something for me. I have never seen such vast, undisturbed natural beauty in my life, and after spending time in the Catalan Pyrenees this weekend, all I want to do is explore the world to find the most unique and unaltered nature. 

We arrive in Viehla around noon on Friday. Rachel, Catherine, Tamar, Alyssa, Joanna and I were immediately in awe of our surroundings. The drive alone gave the Yosemite Valley drive a run for its money. Here are a few pictures that I took from the bus:

The town is situated in a pocket within the Aran Valley, surrounded by towering, snow-capped mountains. The  colors were stunning, autumn is supposedly the best time to be there, although I can imagine every season would be beautiful. The leaves of the trees covering the mountains were of reds, yellows, and darkened greens, while the tops of the mountains were covered in ice and snow, all against the stunningly bright blue sky. When we got off of the bus, we wandered for a bit and then checked into the adorable hotel that I had found online, which was right in the center of the town. Here is were we stayed, at the Aparthotel Refugi D'aran:

We checked in, and marveled at the cute little kitchenette and living room and huge bathroom and bedroom that we all got for so cheap! Once we put our things down, we walked around town for a bit before settling down at an outdoor cafe and getting some coffee while we looked and maps and hiking trails. Here are some photos to give you an idea of the town, on our fist day of exploring:

We immediately fell in love with Viehla. Hard. Meaning, already planning out retirement--hard.

We were pretty tired from waking up at 5am to catch the bus, and wanted to be well rested for a full day of hiking, so after we checked out local shops and visited the tourism office and got oriented, we went to the grocery to buy stuff for dinner. We bought pasta, bread, salad fixings, stuff to make sangria, and sandwich fixings and came back to the hotel to make use of our kitchenette. We all hung out and helped cook while toasting our sangria and then spent the next several hours sitting around the table talking and laughing. It was a great ending to a great day. That night we packed up all of our things for the next day and on Saturday morning we set out for our hike. We took a bus 20 minutes to Salardú, a nearby town, to be picked up by a taxi van and driven up the old and rocky road to the trailhead. The taxi man was very friendly and explained to us along the way, the history of the Aranese language, and the people of the region. Once we were dropped off, he told us he would be back at 5pm if he didn't hear from us sooner, and then gave us the number for the emergency helicopter, and drove off. We really had no concept of how long the hike would be, or where it would take us, but we were all invigorated and ready for a day of new sights. The hike ended up being more or less 10 miles and took about 8 hours, weaving in and out of valleys and plains, lakes and streams. We made it to the base of a mountain covered in snow at the farthest point, and were surrounded by large hunks of snow at then too. We passed a total of 17 lakes, each one more beautiful and breathtaking than the last. The terrain started off as iced-over creaks and grassy paths, then changed to endless grassy plains dotted with boulders and smaller lakes, to literally rock-climbing, hand over foot up mountain faces. It was the most beautiful hike I have ever been on in my life, with the most incredible views that no painting or photograph could even compare to. It made me believe in heaven on Earth, and filled me with the strongest high anyone could experience. Here are photos that I took on the trail, but no picture could capture even a hint of the natural beauty that flooded every inch of these mountains:

Once we got to the bottom, just as the sun was going down, we were freezing cold, exhausted, and scraped up a bit, but all in the best mood in the world, and in complete awe of everything we had just done and seen.

We got back to Viehla and went to a pizzeria in town for hot pizza and a warm place to rest. After we were all filled and warmed up, we went back to the hotel to toast champagne and eat chocolate and relax. We had a great evening of hanging out, and simply enjoying everyones company in such an amazing place.

The next morning we had considered walking to all of the nearby towns, but the weather had a different agenda, so we sought shelter in a small local cafe in the town center. We sat there for a couple of hours drinking cafe americanos, cafe con leche, and hot chocolates while we watched the rain pour down outside. Once we were ready to move on, we found an adorable pastry shop and sat in the booths for another few hours while we tried their hand-made treats and told stories and laughed about everything and about nothing.

Then we noticed that the sun had come out, so we stretched our legs out for the last hour before our bus, and got a few more pictures of Viehla while wandering through the windy small streets:

Moral of the story is that Viehla was a testament to all of the beauty that lies just outside of the city waiting to be explored. It has filled me with such a desire to find places like this that no one else has heard of becuase they are undisturbed and authentically preserved in a way that invites the traveler and not the tourist, and stirs an enthusiasm and invigoration in everyone who stops and explores for a while.