France, Spain & Andorra: July 2020 (Part 3)

Welcome to the third and final part of our lovely trip. I will be taking you to Andorra and a last-minute planned stop in France in this post. 

Day 10: Let's go to Andorra!

Just before we left Spain for Andorra we went to a place where they feed vultures. There were hundreds of them flying above us. We had booked this little excursion in the Eco Museum of the Pyrenean Fauna. This museum is located next to the castle in the old village of Aínsa. We didn't have enough time to visit it, but it is worth a try if you're there and you have some spare time. 

The guide who took us to the vultures gave us lots of information about the different species in the Pyrenees. The most common one is the griffon vulture, which you can see about twenty times on the picture below. A more rare sighting is the bearded vulture, also known as the quebrantahuesos ("bone breaker"). We were lucky to see one of these flying in between the others.

Places to visit: The Eco Museum of the Pyrenean Fauna, Aínsa

After seeing the vultures, we drove to Andorra. It was a long ride through the mountains, which was beautiful, but also made me carsick. On the way we stopped at a supercharger in La Seu D'Urgell and discovered a lovely chocolate shop, named Xocolateria Jolonch. Finally, we arrived in Andorra.

Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. It is only 468 km², which makes it the 16th smallest country in the world by area. Did you know that Andorra is one of the five countries in the world without an airport? It is only possible to get there by road.

We stayed at the Plaza Hotel in the capital city, Andorra La Vella. Just a two-minute walk from the hotel is the Hard Rock Cafe, so we had to eat there of course! The rest of the day we just explored this beautiful city that is completely surrounded by mountains. 

Chocolate shop: Xocolateria Jolonch, La Seu D'Urgell

Restaurant: Hard Rock Cafe, Andorra La Vella

Hotel: Hotel Plaza, Andorra la Vella

Day 11: Exploring Andorra

We had a whole day to see Andorra la Vella, so we took it slow. I quickly discovered that this city also has some beautiful narrow streets. I don't know if you've noticed yet, but I love streets like the one on the picture. 

In some parts of the city there's a free wifi connection, so you don't have to use your cellular network. That makes it easy to use maps or maybe quickly check some e-mails, but don't forget to look around because there is so much to see everywhere!

We ended the day with a walk with a beautiful view over the whole city. It was a narrow path and easy walk, but you have to climb quite a bit to get there. If you're in Andorra la Vella, it is totally a must to do this! You can see the football stadium from up there. Did you know that this small city was a candidate to host the 2010 Winter Olympics? The event was eventually held in Vancouver, but it would have been cool.

Places to visit: Solá irrigation canal trail, Andorra la Vella

Day 12: Parc de la Prehistoire

The next morning we left Andorra behind us. We were driving to Limoges and were looking for some places to stop on the way. We eventually found Parc de la Prehistoire in Tarascon-sur-Ariège. It's a nice park with lots of workshops, but I would only recommend to go there with kids. There's also a museum with prehistoric animals and a restaurant.

After our visit to the park, we drove to the hotel Black and Green in Limoges. Nothing special, but great to stay for a night. 

Places to visit (with kids): Parc de la Prehistoire, Tarascon-sur-Ariège

Hotel: Black and Green, Limoges

Day 13: Paris for a day

We did not plan to go to Paris on the way home, but I'm so glad we did. We literally booked the hotel the day before, because that's when we decided to make the stop. After a four hour drive, we arrived in the capital city of France. I had been given the responsibility to plan our two half days there and I wanted to see everything so that was a challenge. As our hotel was located perfectly in the middle of Paris, I could plan everything to the east of us on one day and everything to the west on the next day. 

Our first stop was the hotel, so we could check in. It was a beautiful hotel, as you can see on the picture, and it was located near Hôtel des Invalides. It was a very small hotel, but again perfect to stay for just a couple of nights (or just 1 in our case).

Hotel: Hotel de Varenne, Paris

We left the hotel and started the first part of our walk just as I had planned. We crossed the Seine, walked over Place de la Concorde, through Tuileries Garden and continued until we reached the Louvre Museum. We didn't go inside, but it was so cool to see the Louvre Pyramid for the first time. There was no queue to go inside, but I think you had to make a reservation.

Places to visit: Place de la Concorde, Tuileries Garden, Louvre Museum

Our walk continued along the Seine to the Notre-Dame Cathedral. The building was under construction, but you could still see big parts of it. I love the architecture and if you look closely, you can see all the drawings children from all around France made after the fire last year. 

Places to visit: Notre-Dame Cathedral

The next quick stop was the Supreme Store, because my brother wanted to go for a look inside. We then walked by Centre Pompidou and ended up in the Hard Rock Cafe. I enjoyed a huge brownie with ice cream, it was so good! 

It was time to go back to the hotel, but we came across some more beautiful buildings on the way, such as Palais Garnier and La Madeleine. As we crossed the Seine for the last time today we had the most beautiful view.

Places to visit: Centre Pompidou, Palais Garnier, La Madeleine

Restaurant: Hard Rock Cafe, Paris

Day 14: The Eiffel Tower

As you know, you can't go to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower. That was the highlight planned for the second part of our walk in Paris. We first walked past the Hôtel des Invalides and it was much bigger than I had expected. It looks like a temple with a dome on top and the dome has lots of golden details. Maybe the most amazing thing about it, is that Napoleon is buried here. It's also a military museum.

Finally we arrived at the Eiffel Tower! It's nice to see it from far away and walk towards it, but up close is so much cooler. Also if you have the chance to stand under it and look up, take it! It's a whole different perspective to look at the tower and I thought it was pretty special. 

Places to visit: Hôtel des Invalides

You can probably already tell by the picture above, but there were very few people. We didn't have to queue for tickets to go to the summit of the tower, so that was a pleasant surprise. Even if you're afraid of heights, the view you have over Paris is worth it. 

Places to visit: (The summit of) the Eiffel Tower

A second thing you have to do in Paris is eat a croissant! I don't think anything is more French than a croissant in the Eiffel Tower.

Unfortunately we've almost reached the end of our summer holiday, but you might have noticed that there is one quite important monument that we didn't see yet: the Arc de Triomphe. You have to drive on the widest avenue in Paris named Avenue des Champs-Élysées to get there.

After packing our bags and loading the car, we got in the car for the last time on this trip. We still had three to four hours on the road ahead of us. You might know that driving in the middle of Paris is not a piece of cake, but there was one last thing we wanted to do before heading home.

I don't know if you've heard of the song "Les Champs-Élysées", but that song is about the 

Avenue des Champs-Élysées. So of course we had to drive on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées while listening (and singing along) to "Les Champs-Élysées"!

Places to visit: Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe

After a couple of hours on the road, we finally arrived at home. It was a really nice trip and way better than I expected it to be in the current unusual circumstances. If you're careful, travelling is still possible and it's necessary to get away from home for a while if you've been stuck there for a long time like we had been. It gave us the chance to reload and that was much needed. 

Thank you so much for reading these blogposts! I hope you enjoyed them and maybe learned something  or got inspired to travel to one of these amazing countries.

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