If you take the C-16 road north west from Barcelona towards the Pyrenees, you’ll eventually reach a town called Puigcerda. On the other side of Puigcerda is the border with France. And then, a few minutes into France, is Spain. Again.

Welcome to Llivia.

Llivia, you see, is a little Spanish island within France. It’s the result of a 350 year old administrative error.

In 1759, Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain met to sign a treaty ending a 30 year war. As part of the deal, a big chunk of Spanish land in the Pyrenees was ceded to France. This included a long list of villages. But Llivia wasn’t a village according to the Spanish records. It was a town. So that was that. It would remain part of Spain, even though it was in France.

The languages of Llivia

Today, you won’t actually find much evidence of a border. Other than some very old stones marked with LL for Llivia, the only change is in the typography on the road signs as you enter and exit the town by car.

And although Llivia is officially part of Spain, you won’t find many Spanish flags upon arriving in the town. This is a very Catalan place. Catalan flags hang from balconies everywhere you look, as they do in plenty of other towns and villages in this area known as La Cerdanya.

As for languages, it’s pretty common for people in the area to speak three. Catalan, French and Spanish. The French man who owns a little fruit and vegetable shop on Carrer del Raval tends to aim for somewhere between French and Catalan. It’s enough to be understood by the majority of his customers. “Tot excellent” is his verdict on the cheese he sells. He’s right, too.

While walking in the surrounding hills, you’ll need to be prepared for different greetings. “Bonjour”, “Bon Dia” or “Buenos Dias”. It depends who you run into. And in the restaurants it’s fairly common for menus to be handed out and then replaced again a minute or two later with the correct language.

Escaping the heat

As you drive around the area from town to town, you might not be totally sure which side of the border you’re on until you see the names of the shops. It’s that sort of place. People who live on the Spanish side of the border might drive out to a little market on the French side to buy cheese.

Llivia is a couple of hours from Barcelona by car and is well worth the journey. The majority of the visitors in winter come to ski on one of the many mountains surrounding the town.

In the spring and summer, it’s a great base for some lovely walks. You get quite a lot of local tourists from Barcelona descending on the area to escape the heat of the city.

A common description of the average August holiday in Barcelona is Mar i Muntanya. The sea and the mountains. Barcelona residents are lucky that both are only a short drive away.

It can get hot in Llivia, but it always cools down in the evening. After weeks of lying stuck to the top of your bed in Barcelona, it’s a nice feeling to be under a duvet again!

The scenery around the town really is stunning. As you exit the long tunnel that links Northern Catalonia to La Cerdanya at Das, it’s quite a sight that greets you on the other side. Llivia itself sits in a valley, but it’s surrounded by mountains on all sides. It’s a very green place that reminds me of the Lake District in the north of England.

A slower pace of life

Politically, Llivia has to deal with both Paris and Madrid, and is often frustrated by both. It’s one of the problems of being part of one country but physically located inside another. For the locals, however, there don’t tend to be too many issues day-to-day. Their mobile signal can drop off from time to time and the internet connection is pretty slow. But you suspect this doesn’t bother the majority of its residents.

The rhythm of life here, you see, is a bit like the internet speed.

Stay here for a week or so in the spring or summer, and you’ll soon get used to this slower pace of life too. An average day might involve going for a walk in the hills surrounding the town, followed by a hearty lunch in one of the towns’ traditional restaurants. And then a nap of course.

So if you find yourself in the area and are wondering how you’ve managed to cross a border twice in the space of a few minutes, don’t panic.

You’re just in Llivia.