Don’t get me wrong, Croatia is a wonderful country. But this:
1. We were travelling with two other people. Even Don and I have to do some negotiating about where, when, what. When it’s four people there is so much more negotiating needed every day to keep everyone happy. After a while it gets to be a little stressful, especially when we’re used to it being just the two of us.
2. We ate oysters. All four of us. We all got norovirus, aka food poisoning. It was not pretty. We were able to continue but didn’t feel too good for several days.
3. Don has a health issue that unexpectedly flared up because we’d both gotten lackadaisical about it. The upshot is that he is generally healthy, and as active as ever, but he can’t lift or carry anything, leaving me to carry all our bags, and him being stressed that I’ll overdo it, and us both being stressed about his health issue. We have him strapped together with duct tape (jk).
4. The flight from Dubrovnik was easy, getting a taxi from the airport to our hotel was easy (and we weren’t ripped off too too much). Half an hour after arriving I discovered I’d left my laptop on the plane! Devastated! Fortunately the solution was to throw money at it. Ninety Euros later for taxis to and from the airport and I had my precious back. But still! I’ve never done anything like that before.
5. Athens is brutal. Grubby crowded loud smoggy screeching. We were not charmed. Maybe because we were still in recovery from the previous three weeks.
6. We splurged on a 4-star hotel for Athens that was not 4-star. Paper cups in our room for our coffee. Really? It’s a 4-star hotel and all you can provide is paper cups? There were other issues but for me the paper cups say everything. And by this time we just wanted to be grumpy!
Now we are in Chania on the island of Crete and all of this is behind us and joy arises every day. We are happy.
I’ll expand on all these stories, and the fabulousness of Croatia, over the coming weeks, but for now this: panorama shots of the beauty of this country that is at once so young and so ancient.
The utterly charming walled town of Dubrovnik.
The ancient fortifications at Ston.
Driving on the Peljesac Peninsula.
Bacvice Beach, Split.
Split from Marjan Hill.
Split Harbour at night.
Hvar town on the island of Hvar.
Milna Beach, Hvar.
Stari Grad, Hvar.
The town of Bol on Brac Island.
The town of Supetar on Brac Island.
The incomparable Plitvice Lakes National Park.
The view of Vis town on Vis Island from the balcony of our airbnb.
Dinner on the balcony.
More views of Vis: the town, the beach, the hidden bays.
Returning to Split – Vis through the ferry window.
All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2022.
Well, it obviously could have gone better, but you have some fabulous photos. I don’t eat oysters so I would have been spared that. I would love to see Split and the islands, never having made it beyond Dubrovnik, 30 plus years ago.
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Thanks so much Jo. Photography, as always, has been a balm and a joy in such spectacular places. I hope you get to see more of Croatia one day – it’s quite wonderful.
Alison
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I’m sorry you had to experience those frustrating moments. But hey! The weather looked mostly nice when you were in Croatia and you managed to get some really beautiful shots of this country. I love how the sea is the main recurring theme here. I hope the rest of your stay in Greece will be a bliss.
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Thanks so much Bama, and yes the weather was great! The part of Croatia that we mainly visited – the Dalmatian coast – is all about the water for sure. Lots of islands and beautiful coastal scenery.
Alison
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Croatia is on my wish list.
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Croatia is fabulous! Hope you get there!
Alison
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I guess it can’t all go well. I’m at the point where I just want to travel by myself for the very reasons you mentioned. So hard to keep everyone happy. Your pictures, as always are gorgeous. I look forward to seeing more and learning more about the places you visited. xo
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Thanks so much Darlene 🙏 It’s always an added factor when travelling with other people that’s for sure, and we rarely do it. One of the other two had a very different travel style from us so that made it challenging, but we managed. There were plenty of fabulous experiences to offset the challenge of travelling with others. Stories to come!
Alison xo
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Love the real side of travel… the glowing with the grumpy😊
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Thanks Indra. It’s not always easy that’s for sure, but we finally feel like we have our travel legs under us again.
Alison xo
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Absolutely beautiful photos as always!
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Thanks so much Linda! 🙏 I’m glad you like them. Croatia is full of beautiful scenery.
Alison
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Glad I don’t like oysters. 🙂 I knew there was a reason. Beautiful photos, Alison. As always. Peggy and I loved Dubrovnik, but it was the only part of Croatia we got to see. Every photo I have ever seen of the country suggests we should see much more of it. –Curt
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Thanks Curt 🙏 Dubrovnik is a really special place for sure; I was thoroughly charmed by it. I hope you get to see more of Croatia one day. It’s very beautiful.
*Love* oysters. But now I know they bite back. And we forgot the rule – never eat oysters in a month without an “r”.
Alison
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I’m glad to see you are on the road again (despite some setbacks), Alison. The laptop incident gave me the chills. But you reacted swiftly and rushed back to the airport. Enjoy the rest of the holiday and wish you a lot of sunshine 🙂 Beautiful photos as always!
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Thanks so much Len. 🙏 The laptop incident gave me chills that’s for sure! When I realized I didn’t have it there was a pronounced visceral reaction, like a cold wave spreading over my body. We had reception at the hotel phone the airline first but it didn’t help much, and then I realized that I had to immediately go back to the airport.
We are having lots of sunshine, and yes, it is absolutely lovely to be on the road again. It’s so very enlivening.
Alison
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Well, darnit! We have been to those places and agree that Athens is so disappointing but Dubrovnik so charming. A health scare is no fun anytime but glad the gray tape came in handy. I wonder if its a hernia? My Bob is struggling with that now and gray tape works until he can get into see a doctor. Bellingham has an extreme shortage of doctors right now. Maybe we’ll cross the border to get help. Your pictures are beautiful as always!
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Darn it indeed! 😂 Oh the joys of travel! It’s not always easy, but always worth it.
Yes, it’s a hernia. Do you seriously use the grey tape?! It must hurt like hell to get it off. How often does he need to change it? We always travel with duct tape. Anyway tell me more. We’re currently using very large stretchy ‘bandaids’ that seem to work well enough. Don was scheduled for surgery but knowing the recovery time he didn’t want to do it just before our trip.
Glad you like the pics – thank you. 🙏
Alison
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Bob’s scheduled to see a surgeon on Wednesday. We are hoping they schedule it very soon. Any activity makes it worse, even sitting in a chair makes it worse. Geez. The gray tape is only for times when he must be out and about. Its been about 3 months now and started when we were down in Panama on a cruise. Enjoy your travels!
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Aw, sorry you’ve hit some bumps on your first real trip in a while! And here’s hoping Don is feeling better now. I’ve been enjoying all your Facebook posts, since you’re blazing a trail for us through two countries we can’t wait to visit. And as usual, your pics are breathtaking! Looking forward to your upcoming posts.
– Susan
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Thanks so much Susan 🙏 Croatia is such a beautiful country, and the people are lovely – kind and helpful and welcoming. The servers in Greece are not impressed with tourists 😂 and Athens was a struggle, but Crete is magical.
Don’s doing fine – definitely well enough to continue travelling.
Hope you get to both countries! Despite our bumps along the way we’re having an excellent adventure in two fabulous countries.
Alison
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Looking forward to the rest of you Croatian blogs.
This brought back so many memories from our time Kayaking on Lopud Island off Dubrovnik and Staying in Zadar. We both loved Plitvice National Park, too. Onward!
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Despite our challenges we really enjoyed Croatia. I can imagine how fabulous it would be to go kayaking there. And Plitvice deserves all the accolades it gets for sure – spectacular.
I love your expression “Onward!” It says everything. I have stolen it! 😁
Alison
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Travel experiences come with these episodes. It’s part of the growth and adjustment that comes with truly living. Thank you for sharing everything. I truly love being able to witness your and Don’s explorations! Best wishes ahead!!
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Thank you so much Ka! 🙏 I’m so glad you love being able to follow along on our adventures. I really appreciate that.
I agree that these kind of experiences come with truly living and not staying home and safe (tho that’s sometimes really appealing too! 😂)
It does seem however that it’s been a while since travelling has been quite as challenging as it was in Croatia and Athens. (The last time I can remember that we had a spate of difficulties was in Guatemala a few years back.)
We are well beyond it now and really enjoying Crete. We finally feel as if we have our travel legs under us again. 🤞
Alison xo
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Greetings, Alison – You’re on the road again! I look forward to reading the back-story. (and the forward story) Health and Happiness to you and Don – Susan
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Susan, how lovely to hear from you. Thanks so much for your good wishes. Health and happiness to you too! Stories to come!
Alison
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Some lovely scenery in that area of the world. Good to hear you were finally able to enjoy it after your tummy troubles.
One can’t help but wonder who and how long it took to lay all those cobblestones in Hvar.
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Thanks Vicki. We are finally enjoying it all again, and Croatia is truly beautiful. Cobblestones everywhere we went! I too marvel at the labour and time involved to lay them all, dating back to Roman times. We humans are an industrious lot apparently.
Alison
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Absolutely lovely photos! Sorry to hear about the difficulties… hopefully the scenery made up for it.
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Thank you so much Diana. Sometimes travelling is full of difficulties, and then I get stressed about being stressed 😂
We are fine now, and enjoying travelling again, and yes, the scenery definitely made up for it.
Alison
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What a shame about the problems, especially unfortunate when the traveler’s not feeling well. Hope the charming romance of Dubrovnik and Split made it all worthwhile. I visited those towns and Hvar, loved them. Dubrovnik was on a long winter weekend, never left the old town except to walk the wall.
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I must say that the charm of Dubrovnik and Split, and the stunning beauty of Plitvice, and the loveliness of the islands definitely made up for our difficulties. Croatia is so beautiful. Dubrovnik especially is a gem. We too walked the walls. What a special place it is.
Alison
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I love Croatia! Can’t wait to hear more about your travels there, the photos really whet my appetite!
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Thanks Mo. We too loved Croatia despite our difficulties. It’s a really magical place. The Dalmatian coast, with all the islands and fortifications is quite extraordinary.
Alison
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Well, THAT’s a little stressful! Not what you hoped for on your first big trip since the Covid shutdown of travel for so long. It sounds like you rebounded, and I hope the rest of Greece is more peaceful. I love Athens myself, even though it’s often an oven with all kinds of assaults on the senses stuffed into it. I hope you still got the feel of the ancient amazingness that is there.
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It has been stressful, but we are finally over it and enjoying ourselves. I do think our reaction to Athens was in part due to trying to see/experience Athens while we really needed a couple of days to decompress from Croatia, plus the hotel was just too far from the places we wanted to see so we did *a lot* of walking. Anyway here we are in Crete and finally feel like we have our travel legs again.
I think I could find a different Athens under better circumstances; I loved Delhi, and Istanbul. We have 2 more days there after our jaunt around the Cyclades and plan on going to the Acropolis Museum, and the changing of the guard.
Alison
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Oh, good! I hope Athens behaves better next time! Where are you in Crete? My mother’s family has a house in Sisi, less than an hour east of Heraklion. My parents were there a few years ago for several weeks and said they were the most relaxed they’d been in years!
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We based in Chania for 5 days, then went to Heraklion for 2 days. We leave tomorrow for Santorini. We’ve really enjoyed Heraklion.
A.
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I have never had oyster food poisoning, but having trained as a chef, I learned about it and it sounded absolutely awful! So sorry you had to deal with that!
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Thanks TCK. It was pretty awful but we all survived. A couple days of feeling pretty bad, and then some ongoing stomach issues for a few days. It affected all of us, but in individual ways. And then it was over and we carried on. Never again I hope!
Alison
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Fingers crossed!
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Goodness, the two of you certainly squeeze the most out of every day! One darn thing after another, including one stunning image after another!
I will reconsider the option of oysters at any time in the future. Oh. What a horrid ‘vector’ for being ill. Once some chicken on an airline put a halt to my travels — I recovered in Antigua Guatemala.
Hard to choose a favorite of your photos, but with so much society and events and loud music and ‘sound’ pollution in this city, I wanted to crawl through the screen and bask in this image from the national park:
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Thanks so much Lisa. It’s pretty easy to get stunning images in Croatia. It really is a beautiful country. At least the part of it we saw was – the Dalmatian coast with all its islands, and then inland to Plitvice Lakes National park. It more than made up for our difficulties. We survived!
We’ve all eaten oysters many times before so it didn’t occur to us to worry about it. But! We forgot the rule – never eat oysters in a month without an “r”.
I hope you find a quiet place to bask (that’s more effective than my computer screen 😂). It’s not like you to be away from nature for long.
Alison xo
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You’ve convinced me that Croatia is beautiful, a fact that I believe I suspected anyway but it’s fun to see this collection from different parts of the country. I’m sorry you ran into health issues and had the horror of leaving your laptop on the plane. Last year when we flew to NY I realized my phone was missing while we were in the security line to board the place. Nothing could be done. I needed all kinds of things that were only on that phone. Misery. But I bought another as soon as we got in (threw money at it!) and managed. Sounds like resting on Crete is just what the doctor ordered and by now, you’re somewhere else! Safe and happy travels for the balance of your trip!
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Thanks so much Lynn. Croatia really is so lovely – at least the part of it we saw – the Dalmatian coast and Plitvice Lakes National Park. Our health issues are fortunately mainly behind us though I’m still womanhandling all the luggage. I knew all the weight training and other exercises I’ve been doing were for a reason.
Oh indeed the horror of leaving my laptop behind! When I realized, it was literally a visceral experience, so I can imagine how it felt when you lost your phone.
Crete was lovely, and Santorini absolutely fabulous, though we’re now in Naxos and Naxos feels like we’re in Greece and Santorini feels like a fabulous and extravagant Disneyland.
Alison
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It is so good to hear you and Don are doing well now, and imagine the great joy you are experiencing in Chania on the island of Crete. Travel is such a wild rollercoaster, and while the issues you’ve mention are all so deflating, this post also holds the charm of what you two discover: the walled town of Dubrovnik photo is awesome as is the one driving on the Peljesac Peninsula. Also I had to look up the Plitvice Lakes National Park, this would be such an idyllic destination on its own. Brilliant post and wish you nothing but happy trails ahead 🙂
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Thanks so much Randall. Actually we’re even better now. After an exciting, and often stressful trip, we are now safely back in our comfort zone at home in Vancouver. You’re so right, travel is a wild roller coaster and this trip turned out to be wilder than ever. But we are intrepid! 😂 We pushed through, soldiered on, and had some amazing times.
I’m glad you enjoyed the photos. And Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of the most beautiful and amazing places I’ve been to. Our two days there were really special.
Alison
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Alison, you’ll laugh with (and relate to!) my post titled “The H(ot)ell in Dubrovnic”. We love Crete though
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I read your post. Hell indeed. We were much luckier than you in Dubrovnik and loved it. Also Crete. I really wish we had more time in Crete.
Alison
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Yikes! I’m glad you and Don found the energy and grit to carry on in spite of the less-than-favorable circumstances. One of my fondest memories of a whirlwind high school trip to Italy and France was a dinner of fresh oysters with friends at a cozy little restaurant in the old town of Nice. None of us had any problems afterwards, but then again it was France so obviously the chefs knew what they were doing!
One of my most memorable travel mishaps happened in India back in 2015. Bama and I were transiting at Mumbai Airport en route to Goa when I absent-mindedly left my shoulder bag at the security checkpoint inside the terminal. It was only when we were ready to board the plane that I realized I didn’t have my passport or boarding pass with me – and the pouch holding my credit cards and a stash of USD hadn’t been picked up after going through the X-ray machine! So I ran like the wind back to the checkpoint, where the security officers still had it. You can imagine just how relieved I was, to come THAT close to losing all my travel documents and credit cards and recover everything in the nick of time.
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Somehow we found the energy! Though there were many days we could only be active for the morning or the afternoon but not both. In the previous post I said we were travelling slow and easy but it was a lie 😂
My sis and I both love oysters and being in Oz were raised on their easy availability, often getting them in the shell and shucking them at home. It truly never occurred to us that we’d get sick 😳 We’ll be more careful next time that’s for sure.
Oh oh oh! I can’t even imagine your panic when you realized you’d left your shoulder bag in the bin at security! 😳 Good thing you got it back.
Alison
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