29 December 2010

Roadside Streams and Waterfalls

We didn't have to go far to find water in Andorra, as streams run alongside most of the roads leading into the valleys and skifield areas.

As there were many very pretty scenes, J was forever stopping the car so that I could hop out to get another image.  The boys took the opportunities to fool around or eat!







26 December 2010

Tobacco in Andorra

Seemingly, wherever there is a spare, arable section of land in Andorra that isn't built upon, it's planted in tobacco.  The lucrative crop is the only surviving form of agriculture in the country, discounting the longer-growing forestry industry which has highjacked the untenable, steeper slopes of most of the mountains that are not fit for anything else.




23 December 2010

Season's Greetings

 
Merry Christmas to all and have a safe and happy holiday season. We're off to Germany tomorrow for a week, before escaping back to a warmer Barcelona for New Year's Eve. Be careful out there!

22 December 2010

Os de Civis

While visiting Andorra back in August, I read about a little village called Os de Civis and decided that it was worth a visit.

Os de Civis nestled in a valley, with the church at the highest point

While only accessible from Andorra, Os de Civis is actually a Catalonian town in the province of Lleida.

We spent a couple of hours here, wandering through the narrow lanes and up to the Romanesque church which, unfortunately, was not open.  However, the stonework of the houses was truly artwork to admire.

Church entrance

View from the church verandah








18 December 2010

Mammatus

Back in June towards the end of Iceland's volcanic eruption disruptions, I looked out of our window to see the most amazing cloud display.  Grabbing my camera, I raced onto our balcony to record it.


Although there was no threat of rain and blue sky, a mass of mammatus clouds was buzzing across the sky.  The clouds were moving quite quickly, so I had to work fast to record them.


I have read that they can form under layers of volcanic ash clouds, so I'm assuming that Eyjafjallajökull's eruption may have contributed to this formation.


It was only the second time that I had seen mammatus - the first being a brief display of them over Melbourne, Australia back in 2007.


They are my favourite clouds!


Usually mammatus clouds are associated with bad, often violent, storms or tornadoes, but we didn't experience any of that, thank goodness.



Shortly after they disappeared, we were treated to a very pink and orange sunset.


A beautiful ending to another perfect day in Barcelona!