Old street Vielha (Val d’Aran)

This is my contribution to the Cee’s Which Way Challenge. Thanks you Cee for hosting this challenge.

My entry this week is for this old street in a small town in the Pyrenees mountains.

Vielha e Mijaran is a municipality in the comarca of the Val d’Aran in Catalonia, Spain. It was created in 1970 by the merger of the municipalities of Arròs e Vila, Betlan, Escunhau, Gausac, Vielha and Vilac: the former municipalities retain some privileges as “decentralised municipal entities” (entitats municipals descentralitzades, EMD), as does the village of Betren. Mijaran literally means “Middle Valley” in Aranese, as the inhabited part of the municipality is situated in the valley of the Garonne (Garona). The Noguera Ribagorçana has its source on the territory of the municipality, on the opposite side of the watershed. The ajuntament (town hall) is in Vielha, spelled Viella in Catalan and Spanish, which is also the capital of the comarca.

The municipality is linked to France and to the rest of Catalonia (via the Vielha tunnel) by the N-230 road. The C-28 (old name: C-142) road continues up the valley to Naut Aran, and on over the Port de la Bonaigua(2,072 m) to the comarca of Pallars Sobirà. This road, the higher stretches of which are impassable in winter, was the only route between the Val d’Aran and the rest of Spain before the opening of the Vielha tunnel in 1948.

Pyrenees

Famous for the sky sports in winter and rural tourisme in summer.

The Val d’Aran, Aran Valley in English, is a valley, 620.47 square kilometres (239.56 sq mi) in area, in the Pyrenees mountains and a comarca (county) in the northwestern part of the province of Lleida, in Catalonia, northern Spain. Most of the valley constitutes one of only two areas of Spain, and the only part of Catalonia, located on the northern side of the Pyrenees.

Sky Station: Baquèira