Day 10 - Back to the future

As exciting and interesting as it sounded we decided to give the Australian Park in Carcassone a skip today and instead headed for Andorra, a 3 hour drive away. K had found the lack of a seat in French public toilets a bit of a concern, surely France is the height of sophistication, can't they manage some plastic loo seats for les mademoiselles?

On our drive through the Pyrenees we came across signs to the famous prehistoric caves of Niaux so we bought tickets for the 1.30pm English tour. As we were all waiting to go in there was an enormous roar overhead as two fighter jets went past. The 90 minute tour into the cave under the mountain to see the prehistoric cave drawings was very interesting. The natural acoustics also amplified by the singing of our guide while we stood in complete darkness, and was wonderful. We emerged from the cool 12 degrees in the cave to a beautiful sunny afternoon, then continued our scenic drive through the quaint French country villages and crossed into Andorra.

We were booked into a 5* hotel in the town of Andorra la Vella for AUD$100. Andorra seemed a little like Switzerland as it is a mountainous ski country, and as it was summer accommodation was cheap. Andorra's other claim to fame is as a tax haven and the first thing we noticed was the difference in petrol, 50c a litre cheaper than in France.

After checking in to our huge room we walked down into town to find rows and rows of shops - more signs of the tax haven mecca. There were also a lot of statues of snails, painted in bright primary colours and of various sizes - possible due to the popularity of snails as a meal. Chihuahuas were also very popular (real ones), though not to eat, just lots of people walking them.