Jeannine & Roger's French Cheese Odyssey

Andorra - 30th May

Six hours after leaving Carcassonne, France, we arrived at Andorra La Vella, Andorra. Of course, there was our obligatory stop for a geocache and purchase of lunch at Foix, and then a geocache and consumption of lunch at Tarascon-sur-Ariege (photos below).

Andorra is an independent principality of Europe situated in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain; it is known for its ski resorts and tax haven status.
We are staying in the capital of Andorra which is closer to Spain than France; to get to Spain drive south, to get to France you drive east not north, just a small matter of a mountain in the way. We drove past many, many ski resorts to get to our final destination; unfortunately we also drove straight through border-control without being stopped, so no stamp in the passport.

As we are just here for the night we booked a hotel room, however land is a premium so parking the car for the night almost cost as much as the room. What limited flat land they have is taken up with shops, roads and hotels. All the houses are therefore built up the steep sides of the valley and well anchored down I imagine. Just looking at them is frightening.

We had a walk around town, did a geocache, and chose Turkish Kebabs for tea. Anybody who deals with the public here speaks four languages, Catalan, Spanish, French and English, it was funny hearing the Kebab guy speaking Spanish to his mate and then switched to English for us with no distinct accent. I also have to adjust to everybody saying ‘Hola’ instead of ‘Bonjour’, I thought the French spoke fast, the Spanish speak even faster.

The benefits of being in a tax haven - diesel is cheaper by 40cents a litre than France and kebabs are half the price.

Cheese Experience No.39 - The influence of Camembert The photo below is Salvador Dali’s famous melting clock sculpture donated to Andorra La Vella by his agent. If you don’t get art and wonder what this sculpture has to do with cheese this is the experts opinion...
“The famous melting clocks represent the omnipresence of time, and identify its mastery over human beings. Dali’s inspiration for the soft watch came from the surreal way that he saw a piece of Camembert cheese melting in the sun. These symbols represent a metaphysical image of time devouring itself and everything else.”