Andorra la Vella, Andorra

Nestled in the Pyrenees between France and Spain is the sovereign, landlocked, micro country of Andorra - the whole reason for this road trip! Country #41!

It was about a three hour drive from Carcassonne to Andorra and took us up and over some scenic mountain passes. 

The views were breathtaking.

After cresting the pass and winding down some valleys, we made it to the capital of Andorra: Andorra la Vella. More fancy license plates! Fox.

The official name of the country is the Principality of Andorra, or, Principality of the Valleys of Andorra. That second name is very fitting since all the towns are nestled in picturesque valleys.

Up above the modern portion of town is the historic core.

Our kids having fun!

The Iron Throne.

Modern church. Cute mail boxes and cute kids.

The weather was great so we let the kids get out their wiggles for a long time at these playgrounds after a long drive and with another long drive ahead.  The Romanesque Church of St. Stephen. I love the flowers lining this little pedestrian bridge.

We never found a guidebook to Andorra at any of the Army libraries around Europe so we were flying blind which was fun but I also hope we didn't miss anything! You don't need a guidebook to appreciate this beautiful little country though!

Everything was in pristine condition. We drove through ski town after ski town that were straight up clones of Aspen, Colorado.

After leaving the old town, we checked out modern Andorra.

In the connecting town of Escaldes-Engordany is the famous Caldea Thermal Spa, the largest mountain spa complex in Europe. Chris' brother says it looks like the capital from the Hunger Games movies.  So beautiful! Chris was dying to hop out and go skiing. I don't blame him!

Andorra in a nutshell:

Our family in Andorra la Vella, Andorra on Thursday April 6th 2017.

Next we visited Toulouse, France!