Andorra

On Friday, June 22 I took off work early so Jen & I could start our roadtrip. We drove south into the Pyrenees Mountains heading for Andorra. Andorra is a small principality between France & Spain deep in the mountains; it is governed by both countries and they speak Catalan (the Spanish dialect of the Catalunya region). It was a beautiful drive, amazing mountain views. We stopped a number of times to take pictures. At the top of the mountain range we heard a big pop – the potato chip bag burst. There are several small towns and resorts just off the main highway. You could stay at a resort, walk across the road to a ski lift and take in a few runs. The ski resorts are pretty small, but there are several of them along the way. No snow this time of year. We stopped in Andorra la Vella for the night – the capital city deep in a valley – the only place I couldn’t get a cell phone signal. It is know for it’s duty free shopping – lots of perfume, cigarettes and alcohol. We ate at a fondue restaurant. I had a lot of difficulty sleeping that night. So in order not to wake Jen, I took some blankets and a pillow and camped out in the bathtub to read.
Jen couldn’t remember the name of the principality so she called it Genovia – from The Princess Diaries.So, if you ever find yourself on the central French-Spanish border, I highly recommend a drive through Andorra.
Driving from France into Andorra - take note of the far mountians.
Now on top of those mountains looking back.

And now on the other side.

Watch out for cows! These signs are all over - but we only ran into horses in the road.