Andorra What a Place

I finally made it out of Girona to Andorra... what a beautiful ride! The Pyrenees are stunningly beautiful. The road trip zigzagged through the border between France and Spain so you have to pay attention to the signs to know where you are. We went up the mountains and then back down to the valley and back up again... this kept going for a while.. I crossed beautiful villages on both sides of the border. I also learned that Catalonia extends into France and Perpignan is the capital of French Catalonia... Andorra is also part of Catalonia as the Catalonian language dominates... 

My Highschool classmate joined me to Andorra coming from France and we will travel together for few days between France and Spain. After a brief rest in the hotel, we went out on the streets and started exploring the place.. one thing about Andorra is that they don’t charge the VAT (value added tax) so things are much cheaper and people from neighboring France and Spain shop here... also lots of tourists from other parts of Europe stop here as well to shop. Given all that, business is booming in this tiny country... I saw many new buildings being built and roads paved and sidewalks tiled... the streets were full of people shopping and eating out... there is a river running through the town ... we had dinner along the river and then walked back to the hotel... the day was awesome and more surprises lie ahead ...

At night along the river in downtown Andorra 

Just before sunset in the downtown of Andorra

Beautiful lighted bridge in downtown Andorra 

High rises in Andorra... this is boom town

A church in Andorra with the Pyrenees in the background 

 A town along the way to Andorra 

Crossing another beautiful town in Spain

View of the Pyrenees from the road

A stop for gas and water on the way to Andorra 

On the road to Andorra

Beautiful flowers are everywhere in small towns

A castle like building in a small town 

A dam along the road 

Very interesting stone structure in a round about ...