 |
| Typical Andorra countryside (Photo by Gregg Manalo) |
I am very excited to write about this trip
because it’s my first time in Andorra. I don’t know very much about this small
country and I have not really read much about it because it used to be uninteresting
for me. I hope you don’t get me wrong – it’s uninteresting because it’s never
mentioned in my high school history or geography classes and I have not heard
any news on TV about it. So I guess my main objective for this memo is tell
everyone how exciting Andorra is.
 |
| Scenery of Andorran Mountains (Photo by Gregg Manalo) |
After our trip to the Mediterranean, we
headed towards Andorra. We passed by several small and historic French cities
on the way there. I know, thanks to my high school geography class, that the
Pyrenees serves as the natural boundaries between Spain and France, but I did
not know that Andorra was located in it.
 |
| Photo by Gregg Manalo |
Upon seeing the first sight of the mighty
Pyrenees, I had known I was up for a great surprise. I am always fascinated with mountains. There
is something in them that always make me think how wonderful our natural world
is. I was hoping I would see glaciers or snow, but I had no clue of the height
of this mountain range so I was clueless of what to expect. The ascent to
Andorra was long and slow. There were no autobahns and the only road available
was the narrow winding road carved on the steep mountain slopes. The weather
condition that day added to the difficulty of our journey – it was drizzling.
 |
| Photo by Gregg Manalo |
As we continued with our journey up, I was flabbergasted by the sight of a
mountain standing tall at the background – it’s totally covered by snow! Then
one after another, snow-capped mountains appeared and the temperatures dropped
to almost freezing point. We were high up in the Pyrenees! As we drove further
up, the drizzle turned to snow-rain. Then a massive block of white mountain
emerged at a distance seemingly blocking our way – it seemed to me that we
either drive through it (tunnel) or on
it. And I was right! Unfortunately (or Luckily for me) the tunnel was closed so
we had to take the pass. I was so astonished to see houses with snow-covered
roofs. It was like Christmas!
 |
| Photo by Gregg Manalo |
As we continued elevating, the snow-rain turned
to snow and the entire surrounding turned to white and the visibility became
very low due to heavy snow and fog. My enjoyment turned to anxiety because our
gasoline reached to the critical level and we had not seen any gasoline station
sign on the way. Our pace became even slower to avoid any untoward accidents as
the visibility was really very low and our car’s windshield turned misty. We
had to open our windows just to clear it. That mixed emotion continued until we
finally crossed a short tunnel signaling our arrival in the Principality of
Andorra. At last we saw a gasoline station; what a relief!
 |
| Spring can be this brutal in the Pyrenees (Photo by Gregg Manalo) |
Andorra is a very small country. What I love
about it are its location – being located on a mountain, the surroundings and shopping. Yes, Andorra
is tax-free so a lot of goods are mostly cheaper compared to the prices in
other countries. Although the country is very small, I did not have enough time
to explore it because of the limitation of time – we only stayed over night.
Andorra, for me, is a country to visit.
 |
| Duty-Free Shopping at its Finest (Photo by Gregg Manalo) |
 |
| Local Shops and Restaurants (Photo by Gregg Manalo) |
No comments:
Post a Comment