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I had spent years dreaming about visiting Petra. I was so excited about going that I started to worry it would be a disappointment. Something I’d built up so much in my mind that it would have a hard time living up to my expectations. I needn’t have worried. This was the absolute best vacation of my life. We all had a spectacular time. This was the first real ‘vacation’ of this trip; I did not work at all for the 2 weeks we spent there.

We traveled from the north of the country to the south visiting not only Petra but also many other ruins, castles, desert settlements, resorts, etc.

We stayed everywhere from a tent in the desert to a 5-star resort on the Red Sea.  We have been on the border of Israel, Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia at different parts of this trip. We fit a lot into 2 weeks. I’ll write a post on each area of Jordan that we visited (everywhere was fantastic!) but I really think this leg of our trip deserves a bit of a prologue. I’d like to share how Jordan made me feel, as well as share photos and document all the fascinating places we got to see. Jordan is such a wonderful country but so different than anywhere we’d ever been. It’s not an easy vacation, it’s gritty, but so very interesting and rewarding. The people in Jordan were so welcoming and warm. They were very interested in us – especially the kids. The historical sites are so amazing – even after exploring Croatia and Greece – we were quickly overwhelmed by the scale, condition, and beauty of the Greco-Roman ruins, Crusader castles, Nabatean ruins, etc. So much to see, we would have needed far longer than the two weeks that we had.

While the trip was the best we’ve ever taken, there were a couple of areas where I struggled a bit and really made me challenge my ideas on culture and religion.

• Where were the women? As we walked past storefronts, shopkeepers would always call out ‘welcome, welcome’. And we truly felt welcome. Sure everyone wants to make a sale but we didn’t feel that usual pressure, the ‘welcome’ was truly genuine. Each time we entered their store or engaged in conversation, everyone was very curious about us – where we were from, whether we liked Jordan, what were the kids names, etc.  They also made sure to tell us that we were always welcome in their country.  Then, one day, I realized I really have no idea if the people of Jordan are welcoming. I only know that the men are welcoming. It was rare to see many women and even rarer to have an opportunity to interact with them. Now that I look back at my photos, the lack of women is striking. So strange that I didn’t notice very much until all of a sudden I couldn’t stop noticing (this strangely parallels my professional life as a female engineer – more on that later).
  
  Before we went, I thought of Jordan as a progressive Islamic nation, which I suppose it is, but it wasn’t until we traveled around there for a while that I realized that being progressive relative to its neighboring countries is not progressive relative to what I’m used to. Nowhere was it more striking than in the resort we stayed at Aqaba on the Red Sea. I like to think I respect all religions and cultures but I really struggled watching men enjoying the resort pools (in their swim shorts) while their wives were wearing hijab sitting at the side of the pool watching after the children. I have read about prisons in Jordan where women are turned in by their family members (usually fathers and brothers) for what they deem inappropriate behavior. I’m fully aware that I do not understand the perspective of the Jordanian women and am seeing their circumstances through my Canadian liberal lense. Nevertheless, knowing about and seeing these inequalities made me sad and, rightly or wrongly, made me feel very conflicted about my feelings on the country.

• Why am I scared?   Unconscious bias is an important area of study, education, and awareness right now in my field (consulting engineering). I work in a very male-dominated world and am only now starting to realize the significance of unconscious bias in how we relate to those around us. We have taken courses in the last year at work to help us identify and understand unconscious bias in ourselves and those around us. Jordan was a real world example for me on how deep-rooted these biases are. I found that I had an immediate fearful reaction to traditionally dressed Muslim men. If a man was walking towards me, I instinctively reacted as if I was in danger. I would feel scared until I consciously took a pause, considered my reaction, and changed my response. This is the power of media – years of news coverage, movies, etc. that portray Muslim men as ‘bad’ people. In reality, there were so many nice men we had the chance to meet. So incredibly welcoming and they really wanted to make sure that we enjoyed our time in Jordan and that we had the chance to really learn about their history and culture. We did not have a bad experience with anyone we had the opportunity to interact with. I had to self-correct and am really glad I had the chance to see that in myself and take that home with me to help keep me more vigilant on identifying biases in my initial responses to people.

I experienced something else really interesting while we were in Jordan. The sites we were seeing were so beautiful, and I’d looked forward to seeing them for so long that i had an almost emotional response to standing and physically getting to see these amazing sites. It was almost like being on a high – I can’t think of another way to describe it. The interesting part was that this emotional response was a bit like a knife edge – I’d be as happy as you could imagine and then something would happen to interrupt that feeling – most often the kids would be complaining – and I would be immediately in a very dark place. I clearly remember being very overwhelmed at the beauty of Petra and then immediately in tears of (what felt like) despair that the kids were impatient and didn’t appreciate the experience. I suppose it’s a bit like a baby – their strong emotions are so connected. One second crying, the next laughing.

One thing I know is that I will never forget that journey through Jordan. It was an amazing personal and family experience. Exactly the type of experience we were looking for on this yearlong journey.

We traveled by ferry from Paros to Heraklion Crete.  It was a pleasant and comfortable ferry ride where we traveled past other islands that hopefully we can one day get back to.  Santorini looked particularly beautiful but it was well beyond our budget on this trip.

We rented a car and drove up to our new home for the next 2 weeks.  It would be our first ‘resort’ of this trip and we were all very excited.  It was exactly how it looked in the pictures.  Beautiful pool and restaurant overlooking the sea.   It was nice to start off with a couple of days of relaxation by the pool and restaurant dinners.  The place was run by a family – first built in the 80’s by the parents and now managed by two of the sons.  They were such a nice family – it really felt good to be supporting a nice family run business.

We did shockingly little exploring from our place.  I think we just really wanted to enjoy a reprieve from the non-stop exploring and take advantage of staying at a place designed for relaxation.  We did go visit Knossos – a Minoan palace just about 30 minutes from our place.  We all felt a bit disappointed with that site.  A lot of it was reconstructed by a team led by a British archaeologist that apparently used a lot of artistic license in the reconstruction.  Experts now believe the restored areas do not resemble the original structure.  It was also hard to figure out what was original and what was part of the reconstruction.  In any event, it was a day out and a chance to learn a little bit about the Minoans.

The rest of our stay on Crete was a mix of relaxation and a number of beautiful hikes.   We climbed up Mount Stroumbaoulas one day.  It’s a very striking peak that you can see from Heraklion.  It was a very, very hot day.  The kids did amazing and the view from the top was fabulous.

Next came the biggest and most unforgettable hike we’ve done on this trip so far; the Samaria Gorge.  Crete is huge, and the gorge was about a 4 hour drive from us so the plan was to pack up and head out for two days to overnight closer to the trail the night before and the night after.  

In the days leading up to the hike, we had noticed that Riley was getting more and more of what we thought were mosquito bites all over her arms, legs, and face.  She got a lot more of these bites overnight on the night before leaving for the Samaria Gorge.  Iain had a few bites on one arm but none of us had anything like the number riley had and she was so itchy.  It was driving her crazy.  We were putting anti-itch cream on but it wasn’t helping.  We started getting concerned that maybe it was chicken pox.  Many of them were bleeding from all of her scratching and were starting to scab over so they looked a lot like pox. 

We took her to the hospital to get looked at.  It was not chicken pox, thankfully, and they were in fact bug bites – possibly BED BUGS!!!   We tore the beds apart and low and behold, we found two bed bugs.   Of all the places we’d stayed on this trip, this was one of the most pricy and upscale.  There were a few places along the way that I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were bed bugs…this was not one of them. 

We ended up switching rooms, even though switching hotels would have been better.  It’s amazing how much I’m learning to ‘go with the flow’ on this trip.  A year ago, I would have completely lost my shit with bedbugs and probably would have thrown out all of our clothes.  This time I was somehow satisfied with moving to the room next door.

Back to the hike….we booked a hotel near the trailhead on the first night, then an Airbnb in Chania for the second night.  I arranged with the Airbnb host in Chania to leave our car at her place the first night and we would bus in to Omalos (near the trailhead).  As we got closer to Chania I realized that I’d misunderstood the bus schedule and there was no bus that day for Omalos.  Thankfully our Airbnb host offered to arrange a taxi for us to take us on the 1 hr drive to Omalos.  It was a ~USD100 mistake on my part but probably turned out for the best.  We were driven in a nice van by a cautious driver who took the cliffside hairpin turns slowly.  If we were in a bus, I may have had an anxiety attack on that journey.  After seeing the terrain, we actually opted for a return taxi ride (which ended up being a luxury limo van – so welcome after our hike).

The Samaria gorge is the longest gorge in Europe and was described as ‘epic’ in many of the blogs I’d read.  It is ~20 km of mostly downhill challenging terrain.   We got there early and were the second people there just before the trail opened at 7:30. 

The man who was already there – Dave – told us that he’d hiked the trail 35 years ago and had come back to do it again.  The first 2 km of the trail were the steepest descent and the most anxiety-ridden for us since there were cliffs at the side of the trail with no protective barrier to prevent falling off.   Our kids have gotten so good at hiking and scrambling by this point but one mistake would mean death so we clung to their hands and went slow.  With two of us and three of them, that meant Ronan had to do it without a hand.  He was more than capable – our biggest problem was trying to stop him from running ahead.

I will say that this hike was a bit of a nightmare for someone like me that evaluates rock stability and rockfall hazards for a living.  It was a full day of walking my children past hazards that were far worse than most of what I see in my professional life.  I had to just accept the risks were there and let go of the fear to enjoy the day.

The scenery on the hike was spectactular.  The pictures do not do it justice at all.  Steep canyon walls, amazing rock formations, beautiful vistas, small chapels, etc.  We were nervous that the kids would struggle with a challenging trail over such a long distance.  Most of the posts I read said that they wouldn’t recommend the trail for children.  I’m not sure we really saw more than a handful of other children on the hike.  They did amazingly well – they had lots of fun, asked lots of questions, and were in a great mood up until the last 2-3 km.  By that point, everyone was aching a bit and Iain really had to go to the bathroom.  He refused to go outside and when we eventually reached a toilet, it was a squat toilet.  He was horrified.  He opted to wait and walk the final 2km to the nearest town (beside running water in a creek, no less).

All told, the hike was about 21 km long and more challenging than we expected. Iain was super proud of hitting a new record of steps (that we are unlikely to beat – 43000 steps).

At the end of the hike, we checked out the black sand and dipped our feet in the Libyan sea before getting our ferry to Sfakia where the taxi driver would pick us up.  We were so happy to see the luxury taxi van for the ~1 hour and 20 minute ride back to Chania.  

We got back to the Airbnb where we had left our car two nights before and it was fantastic.  It had more bedrooms than we could use, and all the amenities we needed including 2 bathrooms (a great luxury for our family of 5).  That was not the best part.  Our host, knowing that we would be arriving late, had made us Moussaka for dinner and left it in the oven to keep warm!!!!!  She also baked us a cake!!!!  Absolutely amazing hospitality from an unbelievably kind and thoughtful host.  Maria is a large part of why we will leave Greece with such wonderful memories of not only the beautiful places we went but of the warm and welcoming people everywhere we went.

After a nice rest, we packed up and were planning on heading into the center of Chania for a day of exploring.  Just before we left, I managed to hit my toe so hard on a hard post at the bottom of the sofa that I pulled the nail right back.  It was bloody and excruciating.  I ended up limping around Chania for a few hours but it wasn’t the day we had planned.  It’s over a month later and my toe still hurts.

The rest of our stay on Crete was pleasant and relaxing.  October was a good choice for our visit – it was still warm but there were not many tourists.  Two weeks was definitely enough time.  We were very excited to continue on our journey.

Onward to Jordan!!

Our next stop in Greece, after Athens, was the island of Paros.  Another destination chosen because we found a nice looking apartment that had great reviews about the place and the area.

This is the first time I’ve fallen behind with the blog. Paros was over a month and two countries ago. Our next stop after Greece was Jordan – it was just so consuming that I didn’t have time to write anything or organize photos. Let’s see how much I can remember….

Paros was about a 4 hour ferry ride from Athens. Our first Greek ferry experience.

The ferry was at 7am, so we had to get up in the middle of the night, lug all our luggage out into the street and try to flag down a cab.   It wasn’t fast, but we eventually got a taxi to the ferry terminal. 

There was a lot of action at the ferry terminal – lots of people, lots of noise.  There was a large crowd  near the entrance to the ferry.  We went over to the back of the crowd, assuming it was the line for the ferry.  I’m not sure which one of us realized first that something else entirely was going on.  First I noticed there were a lot of police, then I started wondering why some of the people near the entrance to the ferry were carrying a banner.  Then someone started shouting in a loudspeaker.  I went back to the ferry office to find out what was going on and the woman at the counter said (in a completely matter-of-fact and monotone voice) ‘That ferry won’t be sailing today’.  Turns out the ferry workers were staging a 24 hour strike, the very day of our first ever Greek ferry excursion.

Brett and I started calling around to hotels….as did every other tourist at the ferry dock after realizing they were stuck for 24 hours.  We eventually found one about a mile from the terminal.  Somehow we managed to motivate the kids enough for that walk with all our luggage after very little sleep. 

We killed time by walking around and exploring our neighborhood which was much different than the more touristy areas we had been in Athens to that point.  We impulsively bought the kids new backpacks, this time on wheels to make it easier on them to travel with.  After a quiet day and evening waiting out the strike, we eventually got our ferry the next morning.  

Our Airbnb host was waiting for us as we got off the ferry.  She drove us to our apartment and gave us an amazing introduction to the apartment and to all the different places to visit on the island.  She also gave us some cake that she had just freshly baked.  What she told us in that first half an hour gave us the rough outline of the itinerary that we followed for our 9-day stay on Paros.

Our place was right next to a beautiful beach, Parosporos, that we went to visit on our first evening.  Ironically, we had so many places to go visit, we only ever made it back to that beach one more time during our stay.

Here are some of the highlights of our visit to Paros:

Byzantine Road
The Byzantine Road is the oldest trail on the island (~1000 years) and connects the towns of Lefkes to Prodromos.  The road is about 4km long (8 km roundrip) and is paved with Parian marble.  If we had thought about it longer, we might have decided to start in Prodromos so the uphill portion of the hike was first.  We went downhill from Lefkes to Prodromos then turned around to walk back uphill after the kids were tired and hungry.  Nevertheless, everyone really enjoyed it.  The road itself was incredible – mindboggling to think of all the effort of building that road where it was with marble slabs.  The views were breathtaking, especially on the way to Prodromos when you come over a ridge and are able to see the ocean, with views of Naxos across the water.

Lefkes was a beautiful and typical whitewashed Greek village.

Korakas Lighthouse
The lighthouse is located at the very tip of the Korakas cape in northeastern Paros.   We parked at the Monastiri beach and hiked about 1.5 hours on an incredibly beautiful rocky landscape to get to the lighthouse.  The views on every part of this hike were incredible, especially when the lighthouse came into view.   We had a few moments on that hike where anxiety started to set in with the high sheer cliffs down into the sea below and our little oblivious and distracted 6-year olds.  It’s amazing how much lower the anxiety level is now than it was walking around cliffs earlier in this trip. 

Kalamia Beach
We were so excited when we found this amazing little beach and we ended up returning again during our stay on Paros.  It’s an amazing sandy beach with a number of tavernas around it that serve drinks on the beach.  There are really beautiful rock formations around the beach that the kids loved scrambling around on when they weren’t in the water.  The kids also liked having their own ‘island’.

Mycanean Acropolis
Near Kalamia beach was a sign for the Mycanean Acropolis.  We followed the signs that led us to a trail up a rocky slope.  As it turns out, there’s not much left of the Acropolis but the hike up the rocks was a lot of fun and the views from the top were breathtaking (why can’t I find any pictures?!!).  It was fun (and a little unsettling) to see how much confidence the kids have scrambling up rock slopes compared to when we first started this trip.   We were always having to tell them to stop going so far ahead of us instead of telling them to hurry up like we did when we were in Spain a few months ago.

Naousa
The town of Naousa was very pretty and we really didn’t do it justice.  We only had enough time there to realize that it was worth another visit.  Beautiful whitewashed buildings, narrow roadways, and pretty harbor.  There seemed to be a maze of narrow roads with lots of small stores, some with typical souvenirs but many that had very unique art, jewelry and handicrafts.  Unfortunately many of the stores had already closed for the season (the week before we got there) and those that hadn’t were closed for a mid-day siesta.

Parosporos
We loved the place that we stayed and if we hadn’t been so busy exploring the island, we would have loved spending more time at the local beach.  The beach was large and was mostly deserted.  There are a couple of restaurants along the beach to get food and/or drinks.

Parikia
Parikia was the closest town to our apartment – about 1km away. Even though the town was so close, we had to drive because there were no sidewalks. It is a beautiful whitewashed village, the kind you imagine when you think of a Greek island village. There’s a picturesque shoreline with restaurant patios lining the beach and as you enter inland, there is a maze of beautiful, narrow cobblestone streets lined with wonderful old whitewashed buildings. Everyone we encountered in town was so nice and welcoming. We became regulars at one of the beachfront restaurants, ordering the grilled fish every time. It was perfect – after the kids finished eating, they would go out and play on the rocks and give Brett and I some peace to enjoy a drink and some uninterrupted adult conversation.

We also met a very kind and welcoming jewelry designer in his little studio shop in town. Brett and I both bought rings there and enjoyed spending time chatting with the old man. The kids kept themselves occupied while waiting outside the store.

All in all, Paros was pretty amazing.   All the villages are so picturesque, the coastline is varied and beautiful, and the people are so warm and welcoming.  We were amazing by how many churches there are on the island – mostly all small chapels that look like they wouldn’t fit more than one or two families.  They are similar in design and all equally beautiful.

There are so many places to go that we could go back again and keep ourselves busy for at least another week. 

Onward to Crete!  

We arrived in Athens from Dubrovnik late at night and got a taxi from the airport to our Airbnb. It was dark and we couldn’t see much of the city on that drive in but once we arrived in our apartment and opened the blinds, there was the Acropolis all lit up and perfectly framed in the window. I was sure I took a picture out of our window but now I can’t find it. I have a wonderful memory of looking out at the Acropolis while falling asleep that first night.

To be honest, Athens, or Greece for that matter wasn’t selected for this trip because it was a place we had always dreamed of visiting. It was more about finding a place in Europe where it would still be warm in October and would be affordable. Athens definitely hit that mark. We had an exceptionally nice, spacious, and central apartment for $40/night and despite it being October, it was sunny and over 30C every day.

Going in with low expectations, our minds were blown. Greece is so much more than an inexpensive place to enjoy some nice weather. I really hope these posts from Greece are able to convey how beautiful and interesting Greece is as well as how warm and welcoming the people are.

The most surprising thing about Athens for us was how the ruins were all within the city. We could walk everywhere from our apartment (and we did…no buses or taxis needed) to see all the main archaeological sites. They are mixed in with the more modern city. Newer buildings surround all the old ruins so you could feel the heartbeat of the modern city while standing in front of 2000+ year old ruins. This was in sharp contrast to Dubrovnik where we felt like the old city was well preserved but was no longer a functioning city – it was an expensive museum for tourists. In Athens, the ruins are part of the modern city and very affordable to visit. We bought a pass to visit 9 different sites in the city (including the Acropolis) for about $60 for all of us (kids are free for all attractions in Athens it seems). In Dubrovnik, it was going to cost us almost $100 just to walk the city walls.

The Acropolis was so much more impressive to see in person than I had imagined. We had been studying the history a bit with the kids. Standing in front of the ruins really brought those history lessons to life. We got there early in the morning (9am…early for us) and the crowds were starting to build. What we hadn’t realized when we bought our pass for the tourist sites was that all the sites had free admission that weekend. Not so upset about the $60 but I’m quite sure the crowds would have been easier to handle on a day where the admission wasn’t free.

We went to the Acropolis museum after visiting the Acropolis.  It might have been better to do it the other way around because we learned a lot about the Acropolis at the museum.  We hadn’t realized that many of the original statues and carvings have been removed from the Acropolis and are now housed at the museum.  We also saw a really interesting exhibit on how the Acropolis has been restored since the mid 1900’s.  It was interesting because it was told from the perspective of the craftsmen that have been doing the work.

When we were at the Acropolis, we spotted another temple in the distance that we thought looked interesting to visit since it was very well preserved.   We did a bit of research and found that it was the Temple of Hephaestus, and it remains standing largely as built in 450 BC.  From the 7th century until 1834, it served as a Greek Orthodox church.  It has stayed in such good condition because it was in continuous use for almost 2500 years!!

The Ancient Agora (where the Temple of Hephaestus is located) has many interesting ruins.   One of the buildings, the Stoa of Attalos, was restored in the 1950’s by the American School of Classical Studies.  It was really interesting to see one of the buildings in a condition that it would have been in after original construction.  It housed a great museum that had many of the over 160,000 items that they have unearthed on the site dating from the Neolithic times to the 19th century.  

We stayed at the Agora until the sun started getting low in the sky.  We spotted a nearby hill where a lot of people were congregating, presumably to watch the sunset.  We were in a race against the sun to get up there before sunset and we made it.  It was crowded, but worth it.

The next night we climbed up to the highest place in Athens, Lykavittos Hill.  It was also really crowded but the views made it worthwhile.

The kids were generally pretty patient with visiting so many archaeological sites and museums but there were times they got bored.  It was very hot, and they don’t yet have a good appreciation of the history.  We tried to teach them along the way, and I’m sure they’ll leave with a much greater appreciation.  We were lucky that when they got bored, for the most part they kept themselves occupied so Brett and I could steal a bit more time to look around

In between visiting the sites, we walked a lot around Athens.  I’m not sure how many miles we logged but there was a good 8-10 hours of walking each day.  By the end of the week, we were starting to really get our bearings.  Athens is such a fun city.  So alive, so vibrant, and so many sights to take in.

On the last day of our Athens visit, we promised the kids a surprise.  A reward for all their patience while visiting all the historical sites.  We took them to the Little Kook café in the heart of Athens.  It is a themed café – decorated for whichever holiday is closest.  We were there for their Halloween theme.  It did not disappoint.  Nor did their food.  Ronan got crepes covered in cinnamon, sugar and whipped cream.  Riley and Iain got pancakes; Riley’s with strawberry frosting, Iain’s with Oreo frosting.  I’ll always remember Iain sitting cross-legged eating his pancakes when he said ‘This is the life’.  Where did he even learn that?

This was a long post but it barely scratched the surface of our Athens visit. We packed a lot into that week. We are sad to leave but excited to visit the islands.

Onward to Paros!

After a very trying 30 min walk back to the ferry, a 4 hour ferry ride, and another 30 minute walk with all our luggage, we arrived at our new place in Stari Grad on the island of Hvar. 

This was the first not-so-great Airbnb experience on the trip.  There was no one there to let us in when we got there, eventually a very annoyed neighbor came over and gave us the keys.  The apartment was small, there was basically no kitchen, and it was very uncomfortable.  Thankfully the beautiful town of Stari Grad more than made up for it.   We loved the town.   There are restaurants all around the bay with amazing yachts to gaze and dream about while we ate.

As you step away from the boardwalk along the water, you enter into the old town. Also incredibly beautiful.  Meandering narrow streets with quaint little shops, bars, and restaurants. 

We were looking at an old church one day when old man approached us and was telling us something in very broken English.  First we were uncertain how to react, my city instincts telling me to be careful.  We soon realized that he was a resident of the town and was trying to explain to us about the history.  He explained that Stari Grad is the oldest settlement on the Island and was founded in 384 BC by the Greeks.  He also explained that those first Greek settlers were from the island of Paros and originally named the town Pharos.  An amazing fact to us since we would shortly be going to stay on Paros.  We had no idea there was such a long history linking Stari Grad to one of our next stops in Greece!  He was such a nice man and so clearly proud of the history of his town.  It was a special moment.

Parts of the town had been built over Roman ruins.  The church we had been looking into (St. Roko) had been built over a roman bath house.  In another area of the old town there was a placard with a photo of when they had dug up the street in the 1930’s and discovered a Roman bathhouse as well. 

We visited an old ‘castle’ in the center of the town built by a very prominent Stari Grad aristocrat and poet Petar Hektorovic.  He built this renaissance castle in the 1500’s to entertain his friends.  It included a beautiful garden with Mediterranean and exotic plants as well as a very serene and picturesque fish pond. 

 Mostly we enjoyed walking along the waterfront and daydreaming about owning one of the many beautiful yachts.  The seed has been planted.

We visited Hvar town as well – about a 20 minute bus ride from Stari Grad.  Hvar is a much more touristy and busy town than Stari Grad but also incredibly beautiful. 

Hvar town is known as a bit of a party destination so we weren’t too interested in it but it was a pleasant surprise.  We climbed up to the medieval castle above the town that occupies the site of an ancient settlement dating from before 500 BC.    The Byzantines built a citadel here in the 6^th century, and the Venetians began construction on the present fortress in 1278.   The views looking down over Hvar and the Pakleni Islands are magnificent and well worth the steep walk up through the old town streets to reach the castle. 

We also had a day trip out to one of the beaches on the Pakleni Islands off the coast of Hvar town.  It was about $20 for all of us to get a water taxi to the beach from Hvar.  It was stunningly beautiful.  A small cove with a beach, beautiful clear turquoise water, and a couple of beachfront restaurants.  We had the most wonderful relaxing day.  If we had been staying in Stari Grad longer, we would have gone to that beach again. 

Our stay in Stari Grad was pretty awesome, despite having the worst apartment of our trip so far. So much history, beautiful places to visit, nice people, and amazing weather to enjoy it all in. We will be back someday….maybe on our sailboat (?)

Onward to Athens!!

Brett and I get along really well.  I suppose we have adapted over the years to accept the small things about each other that, at first, may have drove us a bit crazy (love you sweetie :)).  I’m convinced this is part of what separates successful couples from those that don’t work out.  You can’t go through life trying to fundamentally change each other, there needs to be acceptance. 

I’m an overbearing planner and rabid multitasker.  I know this. I organize everything and I’m scheduling out the next three things while I’m doing anything.  Brett is much more relaxed about planning.  He will do things as they need to get done and thinks in a very linear way.  The thought of what comes next doesn’t seem to clutter his mind like it does mine.  These are definitely naturally complementary personality types but sometimes each of us can push the boundaries too far causing friction.  I can plan out activities without asking for input (or sometimes not even considering the input that he has volunteered).  Sometimes when we have a lot going on and very little time, I get annoyed that Brett isn’t jumping into action.

Today we had a bit of an argument.  Not so much an argument but a short period of time where we weren’t so happy with each other.  We were getting our bags ready for about a mile walk from our apartment in Split to the ferry terminal.  We were trying to strap as many backpacks as we could to the rolling suitcases.  I had strapped my heavy backpack to the rolling suitcase I was pulling but it wasn’t really stable.  There was no way to strap the sides so that it didn’t flop over onto one side of the suitcase causing the whole thing to tip over.  I had walked like this from the ferry to the airport a couple of days before so I knew it would work, I just might have to stop along the way to fix it a couple of times.  Brett tried securing it and we couldn’t figure out a way to do it better so I was ready to start walking.  He then suggested that I strap my bag to his suitcase, that already had a backpack attached, plus he was wearing a backpack that had a whole number of bags attached to it.

I said no, I’d prefer to keep it as it was.  He asked again.  ‘I’m fine’, I said.  I was starting to get frustrated that he wasn’t listening to me.  Then we just got out the door and my bag tipped.  He asked again.  ‘No, I’m good’, I said.  ‘Why won’t you let me do this?, It would be so easy to just strap it on top of my suitcase’ he said.  Now keep in mind that I hadn’t had breakfast and I had told him 3 times what I wanted to do.  ‘Because I’m not going to be that woman walking down the street holding her purse while her husband is buried in bags shuffling after her, That’s Why!’.  I didn’t think I yelled, but he did.  When we stopped at the next traffic light he told me that he wouldn’t help me again no matter how bad I struggled.  ‘Fine’ I said.  After all that was all I was asking to begin with.  But it was clear he was pissed.  I apologized a few times and we got past it quickly.

I may not have thought about this in that particular moment but there’s no doubt that I have the most amazing partner in life. He would do anything to help me and he sets a great example for our children in what a father and husband should be. His example will help our boys grow up to be strong but kind men who respect their girlfriends and wives. So often I look at him and realize how lucky I am and how lucky our kids are to have him as a role model.

But in this situation on this particular day and after that argument, I was was thinking of the reasons why it is so important to me not to be the woman who needs her man to help her.  After all, I’m not super conscious of what people around us are thinking.  Besides wanting to feel like I am carrying my own weight (sometimes almost literally), the real reason is the example that I’m setting for Riley.  She not only needs to see the caring, kind, and considerate side of her father, she also needs to see that her mama is strong, independent, and doesn’t need anyone’s help, even if now and then she does accept help.  Then I looked over at my sweet Riley, walking with no backpack.  Actually not carrying anything at all because she had complained so loudly and incessantly about how uncomfortable her backpack was and how hard it was to pull a suitcase. 

Our solution was to strap her backpack to a suitcase and have Ronan pull it.  What were we thinking?  We stopped in our tracks and I had a discussion with Riley about how it was important that she be tough and strong.  Even if it’s more comfortable to have others carry her things for her, she can’t always rely on someone to do that.  In life there isn’t always someone there to pick up your load.  We unstrapped her backpack from the suitcase and she carried it for the remainder of the walk to the ferry without complaining. 

Parenting is hard.  It would be so much easier to give in to stop the incessant whining and complaining.   Teaching them lessons is so much harder than making them happy.  Let’s hope that this one sticks and she continues to learn and believe that she is strong…as strong and capable as her brothers.

After a car ride to Smokvica, a bus to Vela Luka, a ferry to Split, and a 30 minute walk through town we made it to our apartment in Split.   We only went there because I had assumed (incorrectly) that we needed to return to Split from Korcula Island to get another Ferry to our next island of Hvar.  Turns out that we could have taken a ferry directly.  Not a bad mistake to make – we loved Split, much more than Dubrovnik.  The town was really interesting with a lot of unique architecture and it felt much more like a living city (than Dubrovnik) with ruins and palaces in the midst of the modern day town. 

Split has a long and complicated history – of which we learned just a little in our short stay.  The city was founded by the Greeks in the 3^rd century BC.  It later became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, it was invaded by the Avars and the Slavs, it became a Byzantine city, then Venetian and then part of the Kingdom of Croatia.  The historic center of Split is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The ancient Diocletian’s Palace has become the center of the old town.   It was definitely interesting to see how the Palace was essentially incorporated into the old town – there are apartments, stores, etc. all within the original Palace.  About 3000 people now live within the Palace.

We climbed the bell tower in the center of the town to enjoy the view  – something I would not have done had I realized that most of the climb up was on scaffolding.  I can get really anxious at heights, especially with the kids, and as it turns out especially when climbing on rickety scaffolding. 

We would not have been sad to spend a couple of extra days in Split but we already had our next place booked in Stari Grad so we had to leave.   At least we left some things to explore on our next visit.

Onward to Stari Grad!

We knew very little about where we were heading when we left Dubrovnik our one week stay in the town of Brna on the island of Korcula.   We both like traveling this way, every new place is completely new to us.   For the most part, no research, unless we’re going to a really well-known place and we want to get the kids primed on the history and what we are going to see.  We are already studying about Athens for our trip there in a couple of weeks. `Most destinations have been chosen based on cost – using Airbnb as our screening tool to find a place that we can afford that looks nice. 

It was a 4.5 hour trip from Dubrovnik on a bus (and ferry) to reach Korcula.  We got up early in the morning and packed all our stuff and started out to find the bus stop that would take us into Dubrovnik.  After about a block of schlepping all our bags and kids along a road with no real sidewalk, we broke down and hailed a cab to the bus station in Dubrovnik.  We just had too many bags and kids, it was hot, and honestly we were feeling a bit lazy. 

We eventually got on our bus to Smokvica (a town near our destination of Brna) and realized that there was no toilet on the bus.  This is where we started to realize the pitfalls of low-budget travel.  No bathroom is a problem – one of us suffers from Crohns, one from Ulcerative Colitis, and three small kids.  4.5 hours is a long time.  Perhaps bus travel is not for us. 

The bus trip itself was pretty eventful.  For parts of the trip I had to put my head down, I couldn’t look out the window over a cliff edge as the driver sped along down an extremely narrow two-lane road.  The kids were pretty excited that the bus drove directly on the ferry – they had never done that before.

Partway along the route, we got stuck in a small village.  There was a car parked blocking the road.  Church seemed to be letting out in the village and people were wandering around the bus with curiousity.  The bus driver laid on the horn for 10-15 seconds at a time until the car was moved probably about 15 minutes later.

Our Airbnb host, Katarina, was so nice and offered to pick us up in Smokvica to avoid a very pricy cab fare to Brna.  Looking back, I’m not even sure how we would have gotten a cab – apparently they have to drive in from Korcula (about 40 minutes away), that is why it is so expensive. 

We were amazed as she drove us into Brna.  The town is breaktakingly beautiful and our apartment was spacious and had an unbelievable view. 

A 30 second walk from our front door and we were in beautiful turquoise clear water.  The sunsets were spectacular.  Every evening the sky lit up with such wonderful shades of orange, pink and purple. 

We did not realize, however, that this town was very small, had no bus service, and only one store.  On our first night there, I told Katarina that it was my son’s birthday in 2 days and I wasn’t sure where to buy a cake.   She told us that there was nowhere in town that you can buy a cake.  Even my fallback plan wouldn’t work – there are no cake mixes either.    Ronan had been homesick lately and we really wanted to give him birthday cake like he would have at home.  We needed a cake.  Katarina probably the saw panic in my eyes.  Immediately, and without hesitation, she offered to make the cake. 

It really feels good to come across people like Katarina during our travels.  This wonderful woman came home from work the next evening and baked our son a cake in time for his birthday.    Not any cake, but the perfect cake.  Oreo chocolate cake.  We will be forever grateful to Katarina for her hospitality, friendliness and amazing kindness.

Before getting around to the cake and presents, we had a whole day of birthday festivities planned for Ronan.  His one birthday wish was to ride on a jet-ski.  We checked around but there wasn’t one in the small village we were in so we rented one in a town that was about 5k away.   Everything was falling into place until we looked into renting a car.  The car rental company in town only has one 5-seater car and it was not available.  The only thing we could get was a two-seater Smart car.  This was probably not the best parenting decision ever, but we were going to get Ronan to that jet-ski one way or another so we all piled into the Smart car.  Who would think a family of five and a huge beach bag could fit?

The jet-ski was a huge hit.  All the kids loved it and Ronan has resolved that he wants to save his money for a jet-ski when he’s old enough.  We followed up the jet-ski adventure with some swimming and the obligatory hot summer afternoon ice cream cone.

We came back to our apartment and while Ronan was getting showered, we put up some decorations for his birthday.  We did what we could with what we had.  We put up balloons and made a birthday banner.  Both Iain and Riley colored in all the letters.  They not only colored them in, they drew something Ronan loves inside each letter – there was a Minecraft theme, Five Nights at Freddies, jet-skiing, presents, etc.   Afterwards we went out for pizza and had unquestionably the best pizza we’d had since we’d been in Europe.  Then came the cake (that Ronan and the twins LOVED!) and presents.  It had been a logistical challenge to get Ronan the presents he wanted but it came together.

The day ended with those magic words that every parent hopes for ‘That was the best birthday EVER!’

We loved Brna so much that we didn’t do much exploring elsewhere on the island even though there are many places worth visiting.  We did take one day trip to the old town in Korcula.  It is very similar to Dubrovnik but smaller and less overrun with cruise ship tourists.  It still gave us the same feeling as Dubrovnik, that the old town wasn’t really a living town, just like a movie set for tourists to enjoy while all the locals lived outside of the walls of the old town.  Nevertheless it was beautiful.  We enjoyed a great lunch by the water.

We rented a boat on our last day in Brna and headed out exploring along the coastline.  We had a lot of fun and each of the kids got their chance to drive the boat.

At the end of our week in paradise, we did not want to leave.  If we had known how nice Brna was, we would have stayed there for longer instead of moving on to another island for a week.  If you are ever looking for a quiet place to go relax by the water, we highly recommend Brna.  The pictures do not even close to do it justice.

Onward to Stari Grad!

We landed in Dubrovnik airport in the evening and took a taxi to our Airbnb in Cavtat.  Cavtat is about 20 minutes by car to Dubrovnik.  It’s a smaller place with a smaller pricetag.  Our Airbnb was great with an amazing view out over the water.  We enjoyed spotting the huge yachts anchored in the harbor – one of which was a 1.5B ‘Mega’ yacht owned by a Russian billionaire (it was so impressive we had to Google it) – the second largest yacht in the world!

The apartment was about a 15 minute walk into the center of Cavtat where there is some shopping and restaurants. 

We got a boat from Cavtat to Dubrovnik’s old town.  It was a really nice boat ride, about 45 minutes and $40 for a family of 5 to get return tickets.  The boat ride in itself was beautiful and well worth the $40. The scenery was beautiful but contrasted somewhat with some of the holiday resorts along the coast that sit in ruin since being destroyed during the Yugoslav war in the early 90’s.

The boat let us off right in the heart of the old town.  The walls are impressive and well-maintained but it wasn’t long before we started to realize that Dubrovnik was not quite our speed.  Even though the high season had just ended, the streets were still packed with tourists.  Dubrovnik is a popular stop for cruise ships so, as we learned, it is not worth going into town until late in the day when all the cruise ship passengers get back on the ships.

Since we are not interested in shopping (how would we pack any more than we already have?), and we are not interested in nice restaurants or quaint bars (at least not with kids in tow), there wasn’t really much there for us except to explore the historical attractions.  But we couldn’t do much of that either since everything was so expensive.  Walking the city walls was going to cost us about $100 which hardly seemed like it would be money well spent especially since it was a very hot day and the kids would make us hate life if we told them they’d be walking it the sunshine for the next couple of hours.

There was something else that didn’t quite seem right to us about Dubrovnik.  It felt a bit like we were wandering around a movie set or a Disney park.  Somewhere set up for tourists but not a real living city with people getting on with their own business while tourists wander amongst them.  The real Dubrovnik lies outside the old town walls – a completely separate and more modern town.  This was very different to Spain, the UK, and Ireland where the old parts of towns are incorporated as vibrant parts of the modern-day towns.

We were so disappointed we didn’t even take the camera out much while there. After a few hours of exploring, we happily got back on our boat and back to our small village.  Possibly Dubrovnik would be more attractive to us if money were not an issue and if we weren’t traveling with 3 kids.  Venturing out in the evening after the cruise ship tourists are gone with just the two of us would have been nice.  The city is beautiful and the history is very interesting.  I can imagine strolling down the narrow lanes and finding a perfect place to eat, have a few drinks and people watch.  I suspect (and hope) we will find smaller and more authentic Croatian towns as we travel farther afield onto the islands over the next couple of weeks.

Onward to Brna!

I intended to post this before now but just realized I’d moved onto Ireland without closing off the UK portion of our travels.  When I look back over the photos, it’s amazing how much we did and saw in the UK.   All told, we drove over 1400 km (not including day trips), traveled for 23 days and stayed in 7 places.  

We moved too often, we didn’t plan exceptionally well, and we had to miss out on some things because of budget but looking back, we wouldn’t change anything.  We had a blast.  Here are a few things we learned along the way:

• It’s expensive.  There’s a reason I stopped posting about budgets and spending after Spain.  It has been OBSCENE in the UK and just too depressing to tally the numbers.   We have been trying to be careful but we have been hemorrhaging money.  We stayed in a couple of questionable places, and we stayed for free for one week, but even still, our budget was completely blown.  Admission prices are high (for example, Edinburgh castle cost us about $100), eating out was expensive (even a basic restaurant would come in at around $100 for the five of us), and we found groceries and accommodation to be much more expensive than Spain.
• The English countryside was surprisingly beautiful.  I did not have the greatest experiences in England earlier in life and England was frozen in my mind as I saw it back then.   I’m glad my image has had a reboot.  I knew there were beautiful places in England but I didn’t realize they were everywhere!  Every drive we went on and every place we stayed offered endless opportunities to visit quaint English villages with quaint little houses with quaint little names.  There’s a reason that the Cotswolds are so well known but we actually preferred Shropshire and the little area we were on the border of Wales.  I’m not sure it was more beautiful (it was as beautiful in our eyes) but it was a lot less overrun with holiday makers and tourists (like us).   It felt more like we were immersed in real rural English life.
• The old adage ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ absolutely applied to our stay in Melton Mowbray.  It was an extremely eclectic place to stay near a repurposed railway station on a site with pretty rough looking caravans and rustic cabins.  It was a diamond in the rough and we needed to keep an open mind to realize that and appreciate it.
• No visit to Northern Ireland should miss the Giant’s Causeway.  We highly recommend taking the coastal route from Belfast and then make sure to go to the Giant’s causeway in the early evening.  I’ve been there quite a few times before and you are in a long, crowded line of tourists making their way to the rocks if you go there during the day.  In addition parking is free in the evening so as long as you’re not interested in going to the visitor’s center (I’ve never been but can’t imagine I’m missing much), it is completely free to go visit the Causeway with only very few other people.
• Chat with the locals.  We found people to be so friendly and welcoming.  I don’t think we had a single bad experience dealing with people and we had so many pleasant experiences talking with people we came across – shopkeepers, neighbors, Airbnb hosts, etc.
• Plan out your diet. Perhaps it was just our bad choices but our diet went to crap in the UK. There was a lot of bread, pastries, processed food and fried food involved in our day-to-day eating – things we generally don’t eat much of at home.
• BRING RAINCOATS and LONG PANTS.  We thought the weather in Oregon changed on a dime but it was amazing how many times it rained here on otherwise sunny days.  It also got downright cold some days – weather we hadn’t anticipated for our August travels. 

We will return again sometime soon. We’d like to return to Scotland for long enough to do it justice…and London is still waiting to be explored.