Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Retirement Trip Number Six was our most ambitious trip thus far, taking us from Menorca, via Barcelona, on an MSC cruise to Tangier, Gran Canaria, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and the Estancia Villa Maria in the Ezeiza District of Argentina, ending up in the wine-growing region and the city of Mendoza.

We usually finish up a long trip with some relaxing days on Menorca, so it was an unusual feeling to start off in those familiar surroundings, before embarking on the long sea trip over the Equator to South America. Even though it was at the start of a long and exciting trip, it was still hard to tear ourselves away from the island when it came time to leave.

We stopped for a night in Barcelona, where hotel accommodation has obviously become very expensive, probably not unrelated to the demise of Airbnb in the city. Barcelona was as vibrant as ever, and we had a great evening visit to Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece house – Casa Battló. The juxtaposition of the super trendy shops on the Passeig Gracia, and the young homeless men bedding down in cardboard boxes, was a stark one.

First stop on the MSC Fantasia was Tangier, and a return to Morocco after some years. Starting at the top of the city, in the historic Kasbah, and winding steeply downhill to the port, let us see a lot in a short time. We ended up having a fabulous Moroccan lunch in a rooftop restaurant within view of our ship, which is always comforting!

We’d always meant to visit the Canary Islands, but never quite got around to it. Seeing the city of Gran Canaria was a very pleasant, positive surprise. The laid back atmosphere and Spanish colonial vibe had us deciding that a future visit for a few days would be a great idea.

We had the unusual experience of being at sea with no land in sight for a few days, which is slightly unsettling. First stop in Brazil was the city of Salvador, where we decided to have a day on the quiet boat, rather than going ashore. Talking to Brazilian staff on the Fantasia tended to confirm that we had probably made the right choice.

The best way to arrive in certain cities is undoubtedly by sea – New York, Istanbul, and Lisbon spring to mind. By far the prime example, however, is Rio de Janeiro. The long, spectacularly scenic approach is breathtaking. A very well-guided day in Rio, featuring the Maracanã Stadium, Sugar Loaf Mountain, and Copacabana Beach amongst its highlights, is up there with the most memorable visits to a foreign city we have ever experienced.

Next up, the slightly mysterious country of Uruguay, Scotland’s nemesis in the 1986 World Cup, and its capital city Montevideo. Rio possibly isn’t the safest place imaginable, but it definitely feels safer than Montevideo. An interesting day was had seeing around the city, with its almost Cold War architecture interspersed with Colonial and modern.

And at last – Argentina. A wonderful week in Buenos Aires, full of red meat, red wine, football stadia, and tango. A capital with a Parisian flavoured centre, surrounded by poor and vibrant Latin barrios. Visiting the Boca Juniors stadium La Bombonera, and the amazing Recoleta Cemetery, were fantastic days.

An interesting drive out into the countryside brought us to the security-conscious Estancia Villa Maria, a vast polo ranch with all manner of birds and other wildlife, as well as the inevitable gauchos with horses. This stay felt like a step back in time, with the spacious accommodation surrounded by grassland and ponds, and offering massive portions of food, and surprise dancing opportunities!

An internal flight from Buenos Aires took us to the provincial city of Mendoza, gateway to the famous wine-growing region – lots of the produce was sampled, naturally. Mendoza also featured the worst city bus tour in the history of city bus tours, but we did see the stadium in which Archie Gemmill scored the winner against Holland in the1978 World Cup!

Another flight to São Paulo in Brazil set us up for the long Air France flight back to Paris, then the relatively short hop home to Edinburgh. The 11 hour flight was not as bad as I’d feared, especially as Air France Premium Economy is nae bad at all.

Having again had lots of discussions about visiting Japan, we instead settled on something a little simpler and closer to home (and a bit less expensive). The current world situation in terms of the war in Iran and the possible disruption to oil supplies, including aviation fuel, also played a part in our decision for 2026.

We are starting off in France, flying from Edinburgh to Béziers, where we’ll stay for a night before catching a train to Collioure, on the Mediterranean coast. Famous for its quality of light, and visited by artists from Monet to Charles Rennie MacKintosh, it has long been an intended destination of ours. We expect a French Basque flavour in the seaside town of Collioure.

We’ll then take the Spanish high-speed AVE train for the 5.5 hour trip to Madrid, where we’ll stay for 3 nights. As well as the usual pleasures of Spain’s capital city, we’ll be going to see Shakira in concert, in a custom-built stadium.

From Madrid, it’s a Ryanair flight to Palermo, again a long intended destination. One night in Palermo, then it’s the hydrofoil to the Aeolian Islands, first stop the island of Panarea. We visited various parts of Sicily and the Aeolian Islands back in 2019, but both Palermo and Panarea will be new to us. On to the lovely island of Lipari, which we liked so much during Retirement Trip Number Two.

Another hydrofoil trip will take us back to Palermo, where we’ll spend 6 nights and really get to see the place. Rick Stein did a great programme on Palermo’s street food, so we are looking forward to that.

From Palermo we’ll take another flight to Barcelona, then on to Menorca, and our home-from-home at La Gardenia in Sol del Este. This will round off a trip of around 5.5 weeks, in our customary fashion.

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