Parador

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It's rainy and overcast, but hey, we're in Spain and the Pyrenees at that!!!

The drive was beautiful, often in the clouds. We took a side trip to Livia. Interesting that even then the lawyers were working with the small print. A 1659 Treaty with France made 33 Spanish villages French, but since Livia was a "town" it remained Spanish. It's 13 sq km is totally located within France. This tiny medieval town includes the oldest pharmacy in Europe, founded in 1415.
It seemed early enough so we drove thru La Sue and went up to Andorra. it is a tiny country between Spain and France known primarily for shopping and skiing. Doesn't sound like the berbs..huh? Well it is primarily one traffic jam, especially when it's raining, but some of the areas outside of town sounded promising, and hey, we can add another country to our travels. Andorra's independence goes back to Charlemangne's capturing of the region from the Muslims. Today it's the tax free shopping. I thought retail was ugly in the states...the shopping malls here look like metal buildings.

We did, however, find some beautiful country side and a restaurant where it looked like the locals eat. We went in and said...'we'll have what they have" and pointed to the guys at the next table.I'd seen the striped snails in the loacal markets and on the mountain hillside...it was time to give them a try.

After driving back to La Seu, and checking into the parador, it seemed like a nice time for a nap before getting something to eat. A parador is a state owned facility, usually a renovated historical building. In our case it was built around the restored cloister of a 14th century convent, with room renovation in 2003. Interesting how even in these historic hotels opening the windows disables the air conditioning sysem and you must insert your key card to turn on the light. Ruth has been a real trooper and deserved a nice hot bath before heading out again.

It continued to rain so we did some window shopping ...now that we are in to baby strollers we couldn't miss the price tags over here. We also walked around the Cathedral as it was all lit up.

Another great day....doesn't get much better than this.

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