pit stops in andorra, carcassonne and provence

we made a few stops on our way from barcelona to the french riviera. well, "on the way" is maybe a bit of a stretch...

ian really wanted to go to the tiny country of andorra, which is nestled into the pyrenees mountains on the border of spain and france. so we drove there, stayed overnight, and then stopped by the amazing medieval walled city of carcassone as we headed down to the coast.

we'll call it the scenic route :)

it was a random but fun experience to spend a night in andorra. the mountains are beautiful and the littleness of the country is fascinating. we explored just a bit around the apartment we stayed at, and got to go to church with some latter-day saints just past the andorra-spain border before driving into france.


^^ posing for a quick picture in my 70th country! ^^
 
 

while planning this trip, i looked up places to see between andorra and marseilles. when i saw pictures like this: (image source)

i knew we needed to stop in the medieval walled city of caracassonne!

it was so neat to cross the moat and through the wall into this fairytale place. it felt like going back in time! we walked the ramparts around the city and explored the castle, ate a nutella and banana crepe while wandering the cobbled streets, and took in the views stretching across the verdant french countryside.


 
^^ that yellow paint is an art installation that we thought was kind of cool! ^^
 
^^ scrambling along the walls was the perfect activity for a wiggly two year old. ^^

 
 

before we got to the sea, we also stopped in two cute little villages: foix in the occitanie region and saint-remy in provence. both were lovely and made us all happy, especially the ice cream cone and carousel we found in saint-remy ;)

 
  

and then it was on down to the french riviera, the cote d'azur! to be continued...!