Day 7 – Aug 18, 2019 Arles to Carcassone to Andorra to Toulouse

After three days in the Provence region, we drove west to visit Carcassonne for its famous hill top citadel.  We then climbed high into the Pyrenees to visit another tiny country Andorra before ending our day in Toulouse.

Carcassonne has a massive medieval fortress on its hill top

Construction of this fortress already started during Roman times

This citadel was improved upon numerous time throughout its history

There are several layers of defense with inner and outer walls

Tourist shops lined the streets inside the fortress

All these fortifications made it almost impregnable throughout its history

The citadel overlooks the town of Carcassonne below

This area used to be the border between France and the Crown of Aragon (nowadays Spain)

Its strategic significance was reduced only after the Franco-Spanish War in 1659 when the border was moved to the Pyrenee mountains

I tried to capture the immense scale of the whole fortress from different vantage points but failed

So I have to borrow this picture

A cemetery sits right outside the fortress

On our way to the Pyrenees, we drove by a rare patch of sunflowers still in bloom

We were so happy and stopped right away to enjoy the view and take it all in

We had been unsuccessful in our hunt for this since our arrival.  Until now, all the sunflower fields we came across had already dried up and died

Sunflowers are so pretty and their colors are so vibrant.  No wonder Van Gogh painted it so much in Arles

Sunflowers by Van Gogh, 1889

Driving up the Pyrenees mountains on our way to Andorra

Pyrenees lies between France and Spain.  Many summits in this mountain range reach over 3000 m 

Out of nowhere, these buildings jumped out from the surrounding alpine wilderness like a frontier town.  Andorra is the 17th smallest country in the world

The Principality of Andorra is a jungle of duty free shops.  Its economy is sustained mainly by tourism like shopping and skiing.  Shoppers on the streets all lugged big tote bags to carry their purchases

I originally thought these are sausages!

Everywhere you can find dirt cheap tobaccos

We have never seen liquors in such big bottles.  This is also the cheapest price we have seen in our travel so far

Do you know Andorra is a parliamentary co-principality symbolically headed by France president and Bishop of Catalonia?  This makes President Marcon prince of Andorra!