A drive through the Pyrénées

We drove from Moissac (the town north of Toulouse where we had been staying) to Andorra la Vella (the capital of Andorra) today and as a result said a temporary farewell to France.

The drive was shorter than we expected and was nothing short of spectacular. After driving right under a mountain through a tunnel, we were treated to amazing 360-degree views of the Pyrénées along the subsequently winding road. Along the way we saw mountainsides variously covered in forests, scrub, flowers and snow. We also discovered that Andorra is somewhat of a skiing destination in the winter.

And despite the fact that the weather looks cold in the photos, it actually isn't too bad - the temperature has been about 16 degrees in Andorra la Vella today, which with no wind feels positively balmy.

Andorra is a little bit of a strange place. Its natural alpine beauty is thrown into stark contrast by the towns which, although not ugly per se, certainly do not seem to fit nicely into the landscape. There is construction everywhere and we are at a loss to know why it is necessary in a country of only 80,000 inhabitants (the capital has only 20,000 inhabitants).

Andorra is said to be Europe's shopping centre and we have certainly seen a lot of shops and shopping centres selling designer gear tax-free (there is no GST, VAT or any sales taxes in Andorra, and yes, it is a tax haven). Indeed, there doesn't seem to be anything to do other than shop.

The official language is Catalan, so as you can imagine, communicating has been interesting, but we've been managing in a hybrid of broken French, more broken Spanish and some English.

As interesting as it is here, we've decided to head to Spain tomorrow to finally get some of that long-awaited Mediterranean sun!