Introduction

Well, in truth, we're not going to see a whole lot of either country.  Spain will be about 2 weeks in Mallorca followed by 4 days in Girona and 1 in Barcelona.  Then we fly over mainland Portugal to the Azores, which is a collection of 9 islands about a third of the way across the Atlantic towards North America.  We plan to spend time on 4 of those islands.  We will be on bikes for most of Spain and then we'll pretty much be average tourists in the Azores.  There are four of us going.  Friends from Calgary and Canmore.  

First international travel (and first blog!) for me since returning from South America on March 1, 2020 - just days before the world went into lockdown due to COVID 19.  We're certainly not free of it yet, but travel restrictions are starting to loosen up and we're all triple vaccinated.  The bike trips we are doing are self-guided and we are renting cars in the Azores, so we should be able to stay reasonably self-contained.  Fingers crossed!

Departure date from Calgary is April 11th.  We're due home on May 15th.  

A late March update.........  Covid cases are on the rise again, and Canada looks like it is entering a sixth wave.  Worldwide cases are trending up and are the highest ever in some countries.  Bought a contactless forehead thermometer, a box of N95 masks, and lots of hand sani today.  Oh - and it looks like one of the islands we were going to visit in the Azores (Sao Jorge) is starting to be evacuated due to earthquakes (over 20,000 since March 19th) and fear of an impending volcanic eruption.  Guess we should start to look at a Plan B for that part of the trip.

Both Mallorca and Girona are rumoured to be cycling mecas, with many pros training there over the winter months.  I've had a number of friends cycle in Mallorca over the years, and frankly I'm just tired of listening to them go on and on about what a great experience it was.  So - that was top of my list.  Another woman in our group was aware of Girona's reputation and merits, so it wasn't too difficult to twist our arms into putting that onto the agenda.  And - while we're across the pond we figured we could fit in one more stop and the Azores was a bucket-list item for another of our group.  Again - we were all pretty agreeable to putting that on the list too.  

For the Mallorca portion, we have a couple of free days in Palma to start the trip.  Then we meet up with a company (Ibero Cycle) that has arranged our bike tour.  They will provide bikes and maps, and have made all the hotel reservations.  They will also transport our luggage each day as we make our way around the island in a counter-clockwise direction.  

In Girona we have rented a house for 4 days/nights and have arranged for bike rentals.  We have the option of self-guided cycling, or joining a group run by one of the local bike shops.  I think the cycling there is even more challenging than on Mallorca, so given how early in the season this trip is it's probably a good thing that we're doing Mallorca first.  

We may rent bikes for a day here or there in the Azores, but it's largely a tourist trip and if we're lucky we may even get some beach time.  Lots to see and do on each of the unique islands.