Despite catching Covid (unknowingly) whilst we were on the Mediterranean cruise section of Retirement Trip Number Three, our journey in autumn of 2022 managed to eclipse Trips Number One and Two. If we had developed the infection a few days earlier, we would not have been allowed to board the MSC Fantasia, and Trip Number Three would have had a large hole in the middle!

Rovinj and Zadar allowed us to get a good taste of Croatia, a new country to us both – we’ll definitely be back. The cruise on the MSC Fantasia was for the most part excellent, though it did remind us of the pitfalls of doing cruise ship excursions when arriving at ports of call. Our visits to Matera in Puglia and Ephesus in Turkey were interesting, but we’d have preferred to visit those sites under our own steam. Annoyances not withstanding, seeing Ephesus allowed us both to fulfil a long held ambition.

Our day in Athens was lovely, and two days in Istanbul were fabulous. It was great to revisit the lovely island of Corfu after all these years. We spent a lot of time in Italy, discovering a hidden gem in Trieste, and loving Venice and Verona. Sardinia made less of an impact – perhaps a bad choice of location in Palau, and the only bad weather of the trip.

Another long held desire was satisfied when we alighted from the ferry on French soil in Corsica, and we rounded off as usual with a lovely relaxing time on the familiar Balearic island of Menorca.

This time around, the original intention was to return to Portugal and Spain, both on the mainland and islands. The plan was to fly to The Azores, a group of islands that we are not very familiar with, and stay on the island of São Miguel, first in the town of Furnas, then move west to the island’s capital Ponta Delgada. We then planned to return to mainland Portugal and Lisbon, where we would begin our train journeys, the first stop being Évora in the Alentejo region, followed by the fortress town of Elvas. Then, onwards by road across the border into Spain to another fortress city, Badajoz.

From Badajoz we then planned to take the train via Madrid to our next stop in hilltop city of Toledo for a few nights.

Unfortunately, health matters inconveniently intervened, which required a hospital admission and an elective operation. The Portugal segment of our planned trip had to be postponed and instead, after a suitable period of recuperation, we revised our schedule.

Flights from Edinburgh to Madrid, followed by a train journey to Toledo, will allow us to pick up our scheduled trip part way through – at least we’ll get to do the Spanish section in full.

The plan then is to return to Madrid and take the high speed AVE train to Granada, and enjoy the city’s attractions for a few days. From Granada we move on to Jerez de la Frontera, which featured in Trip Number One but only as a day trip destination.

After a few days in Jerez, including visits to the other two apexes of the Sherry Triangle, San Lúcar and El Puerto de Santa María, we’ll hop back on a plane to Mahón, to wind up with 10 days at our home from home in Sol del Este on the lovely Balearic island of Menorca.

The itinerary for this trip, and the series of links which relate to the relevant blog posts, ban be found at Retirement Trip Number Four: Index of Blog Posts