La Tuca

The General Council of Aran (in Aranese Conselh Generau d'Aran) is the autonomous governing body of the region (unofficially considered a comarca) of Val d'Aran in Catalonia. The chamber is headed by the Síndic d'Aran.

The Línea P (P line), officially the Pyrenees Defense Organisation (Organización Defensiva de los Pirineos), was a fortified line of defense built in the Pyrenees between 1944 and 1948 to prevent an invasion into Spanish territory. After the end of the Spanish Civil War, the government of General Franco decided to build a defensive line in the Pyrenees, that would go from the Mediterranean to the Cantabrian Sea, approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) of fortified defensive points, stretching up to a depth of 60 km (37 miles) from the border. Some 8,000 – 10,000 bunkers were planned, of which approximately half were completed. Their garrison would have theoretically consisted of about 75,000 men. There is no evidence that the line was ever fully armed and operational. The defensive points of the Línea P and its access roads were built by war prisoners and jailed political opponents of the Francoist regime grouped in Batallones de Trabajadores (Workers’ Battalions) immediately after the Spanish Civil War and from 1940 to December 1942, in Batallones Disciplinarios de Soldados Trabajadores (Disciplinary Battalions of Workers-Soldiers) In a broader sense, Línea P also refers to the successive Pyrenean fortifications built after the Spanish Civil War that would previous fortifications (1939–1940), the counter-tank defense (1950–1954) and other fortifications, such as those at Cape Higuer in Fuenterrabía, Guipúzcoa finished in 1957. The Línea P was definitively abandoned after the Spanish army performed its last inspection in the 1980s.

Aran (Occitan: [aˈɾan]; Catalan: [əˈɾan]; Spanish: [aˈɾan]) (often known as the Aran Valley, or Val d'Aran in Aranese Occitan; in other forms of Occitan: Vath d'Aran or Vau d'Aran, in Catalan: Vall d'Aran, in Spanish: Valle de Arán) is an administrative entity (formerly considered a comarca) in northwest Catalonia, Spain, consisting of 620.47 square kilometres (239.56 sq mi) in area, located in the Pyrenees mountains, in the Alt Pirineu i Aran region and in the province of Lleida. The capital is Vielha e Mijaran. This valley constitutes the only contiguous part of Catalonia located on the northern side of the Pyrenees. Hence, this valley holds the only Catalan rivers to flow into the Atlantic Ocean (for the same reason, the region is characterized by an Atlantic climate, instead of a Mediterranean one). The Garonne river flows through Aran from its source on the Pla de Beret (Beret Flat) near the Port de la Bonaigua. It is joined by the Joèu river (from the slopes of Aneto mountain) which passes underground at the Forau d'Aigualluts. It then reappears in the Val dera Artiga de Lin before reaching the Aran valley, then through France and eventually to the Atlantic Ocean. The Noguera Pallaresa river, whose source is only a hundred meters from that of the Garonne, flows the opposite way towards the Mediterranean. Aran borders France on the north, the Autonomous Community of Aragon to the west and the Catalan comarques of Alta Ribagorça to the south and Pallars Sobirà to the east. Its capital, Vielha e Mijaran, has 5,474 inhabitants (2014). The entire population of the valley is about 9,991 (2014). As of 2001, a plurality of people in Aran spoke Spanish (38.78%) as their native language, followed by Aranese (34.19%), then Catalan (19.45%) with 7.56% having a different native language. While Aranese is the mother tongue of 62.87% of people born in the region, it is less frequent among residents born outside the valley.

The Vielha tunnel (Aranese: Tunèl de Vielha, Catalan and Spanish: Túnel de Viella) is a road tunnel in Spain, connecting Vielha, the capital of the Aran valley, with the Alta Ribagorça comarca. It is part of the N-230 road and consists of two parallel tunnels. The older one, named Alfonso XIII Tunnel in honour of Spanish king Alfonso XIII, was opened in 1948 and became the longest road tunnel in the world, with a length of 5240 metres, until 1964, when the Great St Bernard Tunnel was inaugurated. The new tunnel, named Juan Carlos I Tunnel in honour of the Spanish king Juan Carlos I, is 5,230 m (3.25 mi) long and was opened in 2007 with two lanes heading southbound and one lane northbound. The old tunnel is nowadays used as an emergency exit and since July 2011, also as a lane used by trucks which carry flammable or other types of hazardous loads.

The N-230 connects Lleida to Vielha, the Vall d'Aran and France. It passes through Benabarre, the Vall del Noguera Ribagorçana and the Vielha tunnel (5.240m). The road is to be up-graded to the Autovía A-14.

Naut Aran (Occitan pronunciation: [ˈnawt aˈɾan]) is a municipality in eastern Aran, Catalonia. It had 1,923 inhabitants as of 2022. It is located in the terçons of Arties e Garòs and Pujòlo. It is the second largest municipality in Catalonia in terms of surface area (225.8 km², behind Tremp), and was created in 1967 by the merger of the municipalities of Arties, Salardú, Gessa, Tredòs and Bagergue: the former municipalities retain some privileges as "decentralised municipal entities" (entitats municipals descentralitzades, EMD).[1] The name literally means "Upper Valley" in Aranese, and both the Garonne (Garona) and the Noguera Pallaresa have their sources on the territory of the municipality. The town hall is in Salardú. The municipality is linked to Vielha by the C-28 road, which continues to Alt Àneu over the Port de la Bonaigua (2072 m). This road, the higher stretches of which are impassable in winter, was the only route between the Aran Valley and the rest of Spain before the opening of the Vielha tunnel in 1948.

Es Bòrdes is a municipality in western Aran, Catalonia. It had 282 inhabitants as of 2022. The mayor is Rosa Mirat Marqués (UA). The municipality includes a small exclave to the west. It is located in the terçon of Irissa.

Vilamòs is a municipality in western Aran, Catalonia. It had 172 inhabitants as of 2022. The mayor is Oriol Sala Sánchez (UA). It is located in the terçon of Irissa.

Arres is a municipality in the comarca of the Aran Valley in Catalonia, Spain, close to the French border. The mayor is Pere Castet i Farré (CDA).

Port de la Bonaigua (el. 2072 m., 6,798 ft) is a mountain pass in the Pyrenees in Catalonia, Spain. It connects Esterri d'Àneu in the comarca of Pallars Sobirà with Vielha e Mijaran in the comarca of Aran. The Baqueira-Beret ski resort is located at the top of the pass.

Bossòst (Occitan pronunciation: [buˈsɔst]) is a small Pyrenean village and municipality located in the Aran Valley, province of Lleida, Catalonia, Northern Spain. Situated on the left bank of the river Garona, the village is bordered by Les, Vilamòs, Arres and France (by Bagnères-de-Luchon). The local football club, UE Bossòst, has the rare distinction of playing its regular matches in a 'foreign' competition (it plays in the French minor leagues).

Étang d'Araing is a lake in Couserans, Ariège department, France. At an elevation of 1909 m, its surface area is 0.33 km2.