Previous Post Quote: From the pages of Planet Alone's Travel Guide to Southwest Europe: Costa del Luna The tiny hamlet of Costa del Luna is located at the eastern foot of the Pyrenees mountain range that separates France from Spain, on a rocky crescent-moon shaped isthmus that juts out into the azure seas of the southern Mediterranean. Legend has it a renegade religious cult expelled from Carthage founded the city around 825 BC in order to continue their religious ceremonies free from the harassment of the Punic Guard. Overtime the city grew, its economy based around maritime trade with the far reaches of the Mediterranean. Under continual rule by the del Lune family since its earliest times, the country was able to stave off conquests and other attempts by neighbouring states to seize control, including the Umayyad Caliphate, the Franks, the Lombards, Aquitaine, Catalonia and Aragon and modern day France and Spain, making it one of the oldest countries in Europe today. Rumour states that much wealth was brought back to the county from the Holy Lands during the Crusades when a force led by Giolcomo del Lune, son of Guillaume II 14th Comte de Lune, briefly seized control of Jerusalem. Today, the wealth of Liétald, the current Comte de Lune, and Alix Comtesse de Lune, is reputed to be amongst the richest of the ruling heads of Europe. Their sons Aubry, Ranoux and Etienne are fixtures amongst the party-set of Europe, though not without controversy (see pp 34-45 Economic Situation and pp 89-93 House of del Lune). The city itself retains much of its medieval charm with cobblestone streets winding their way from the small port. The western end is dominated by the last root of the Pyrenees that penetrates into the town by way of a threes-sided buttress atop which sits the ancient, and in places crumbling, castle - the ancestral home of the Comtes de Lune, the ruling Counts. The city does lack much of the glamour and charm of nearby Côte-d’Azur and Monaco, and is blacklisted by the US State Department, reputedly due to rumours it doubles as a tax haven for money laundering from Eastern European crime gangs and Balkan Mafioso. Still the intrepid traveler with time on their hands may find some things of interest in the streets of the old town and tourism has grown as an industry in recent years….

The local dialect of Costa del Luna is an odd mix of Catalan and Occitan yet with its own distinct form. French, Spanish and English are also spoken.

The main currency is the Euro, though the country is not a member of the EU.

The national bird of Costa del Luna is the Wolf Shrike Lanius lupus