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Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Ho. Lee. Fuck. Andorra!

Ask and ye shall receive, y'all! Mere days after mentioning that Andorra has never visited Eff You, Andorra visits Eff You! I would say words fail me, but that is demonstrably not true.

So what is Andorra? Well, it is mostly small:
Andorra . . . officially the Principality of Andorra . . . also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra . . . is a sovereign landlocked microstate in Southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. Created under a charter in A.D. 988, the present Principality was formed in A.D. 1278. It is known as a principality as it is a monarchy headed by two Co-Princes – the Spanish/Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgell and the President of France.
Andorra is the sixth-smallest nation in Europe, having an area of 468 km2 (181 sq mi) and a population of approximately 85,000. Its capital Andorra la Vella is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres (3,356 ft) above sea level. The official language is Catalan, although Spanish, Portuguese, and French are also commonly spoken.
Andorra's tourism services an estimated 10.2 million visitors annually. It is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is the de facto currency. It has been a member of the United Nations since 1993. In 2013, the people of Andorra had the highest life expectancy in the world at 81 years, according to The Lancet.
Andorra is jammed between France and Spain, like so:



I'll tell you what freaked me out -- there are five European nations smaller than Andorra, which is fucking tiny. Apparently tourism and financial services -- Andorra is a tax haven -- comprise almost the entirety of the Andorran economy. Skiing and other winter sports are a bid draw there. The country is located in the Pyrenees mountains, and so its terrain is mountainous. For the Cowboys fans in the audience, that means "really fucking hilly." It makes for good skiing. It also means there are no airports for fixed-wing aircraft in the country, only heliports. Think about it.

It's mountainous and old and not heavily populated, giving you scenes like this:


And this:


So thank you for the prompt response, Andorra, and welcome to Eff You Nation. Everybody extend a big Eff You welcome to Andorra and ask Monaco and Lichtenstein what the fuck is keeping them?

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