We’re asked how we plan to communicate with locals throughout the course of our trip. Fortunately, between Susana and I, we speak four of the local languages we’ll encounter plus English (Susana speaks Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English; I speak English). I understand that many Croatians also speak Italian, and Greece will certainly be a challenge.

Maps

While Susana handles our communication, I’ve been researching our routes and choosing maps. We ordered most of our maps in advance, and the map quality and availability has varied greatly by country. Resolution is one thing that matters a lot for cycling. 1:200,000 is perfect — enough to cover the smallest roads, but not too detailed that you have to buy too many maps. Campgrounds and places of interest and road grade and topography are other things to look for.

That said, Michelin maps of France are the best road maps in the world: they’re packed with information but not cluttered. Bright, distinct lines allow you to focus on one set of data such as roads, without confusing it with terrain or boundaries. As a graphic designer, I appreciate this superior cartography greatly. The paper is high quality and feels good in your hands, and it implies that it’s a precious document that you’re holding.

Another good find was the Greece Road series created by the Greek National Guard. These maps contain an incredible amount of information, including topography, campgrounds, footpaths and more, only slightly more cluttered than the Michelin maps, and waterproof, too. Since Croatia has only recently re-opened for mass tourism, this was the hardest good map to locate but the Dalmation Coast Euromap looks like the best available. In Italy we chose Touring Club Italiano and Spain we bought Michelin.

Route Selection

After choosing the regions of Europe we want to tour (near the Mediterranean, mostly to areas neither of us had been), route selection became a practical matter. Cyclists want to be away from major highways and out of congested, sprawling cities. Often this is impossible given where we want to go, but I consulted Eurovelo, an organization dedicated to creating and promoting cross-Europe cycling routes. None of the routes that concern us are complete, but we still printed out their draft itineraries that contain much practical advice and suggested routes. They work with local cycling groups to establish their routes although some of their documents seem fairly outdated. They’re evidently funded by the EU, so hopefully they’ll continue to be around to complete their goal of 12 cross-Europe cycling routes.

I also joined a bicycle touring mailing list, one that I had belonged to ten years ago during my first tour. It was refreshing to see that many of the same knowledgeable members still belong. I got some advice on route selection from posting our general itinerary, such as the existence of a 120km bicycle path that will lead us from Trieste into Croatia for the first two days. Already we’re changing our route based on this bike path, and we haven’t even started the trip.