Our first visit to SW France is in 1985, and we have been back 5 times. In 1985 we fly to Barcelona, spend some time there, then rent a car and drive to Andorra, entering after an overnight stay in the parador in La Seu. We stop at a modern supermarket in Sant Julia de Loria and buy Grand Marnier, Cointreau, and chocolate. Andorra is a free port so people come from both Spain and France to shop. We drive north thru a steep sided valley with snow covered peaks above to Andorra la Vella, the main city, then up a side road to El Serrat thru a very pretty valley, seeing more and more snow on the ground as we go higher. There are old buildings made with a slate colored stone shaped like roman brick. New construction is everywhere, mostly high rise apartments or condos. We stop about 2 PM at the Hotel Como in Ordino for lunch; the food is so good we decide to stay the night there so we can have supper too!
We leave the nice Hotel Como and drive down thru Andorra la Vella, then north east towards France. The spectacular closed valley near the city opens to snow covered mountains as we approach the border. The snow is about two feet thick at the side of the road and there are spectacular views of peaks and hanging valleys. At the border there is no customs inspection, but we are told the main road towards Ax-les-Thermes is closed by an avalanche. We detour via the snow sports area of Font-Romeu and take the tertiary scenic road north thru the Gorges de St. Georges, very spectacular steep rock gorges with the road undercut into one side.
We stop at the Michelin 2 fork Rebenty Restaurant on the Aude River and have an excellent lunch, then we go along the river thru the Defile de Pierre Lys to Quillan where we park in the main plaza.
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