The Ray's Days: Croatia

Our favorite stop! My pictures on Friday started and ended with lighthouses, so of course it was bound to be a good day.

I had looked up Croatian lighthouses and saw this adorable green one and I couldn’t quite tell where we were going to dock so at our sit down brekkie i showed everyone the picture and asked if they wanted to walk over with me. Imagine my delight when we walked down the gangway and bam, there she was!

The. Cutest.

And then just down the way is not the cutest lighthouse. But I love every light, cute or not.

Croatia was cute from the start. Pretty flower trees and cute souvie stands. Matt found this fun motorcycle and asked the Croatian biker if he could get a pic. 🤣🤷‍♀️

There is a many blocks long palace, and this is what Brittanica has to say about it, because I can’t:

The Palace of Diocletian, ancient Roman palace built between 295 and 305 ce at Split (Spalato), Croatia, by the emperor Diocletian as his place of retirement (he renounced the imperial crown in 305 and then lived at Split until his death in 316).

I struggled with a selfie for this big group *and* the arch until a nice older woman offered to take it. So much better!

We split up and Tom lead our group to the golden arch.

There was a cute park so we had to get some pics.

It was already in the 90’s by this point in the morning.

But we pressed on.

I loved their souvenirs! So much lavender and really pretty glass flower necklaces that I talked Jeanne and Tom into buying. I love wearing my cheap souvenir jewelry and I always think of the trip and day I bought it and I’ve never missed the money spent. I’m a little bit of a bad influence that way, but they were really pretty necklaces!

We shopped around and then it was time for the beach.

It was just past where our ship was docked, and very crowded. Matt didn’t feel good about leaving all our gear there, so I volunteered to walk it back. It gave me a chance to get in some steps and listen to my book and I figured I’d rather walk than take a turn sitting with our gear. I had left a note asking for a fun folded towel because we’d only gotten one so far because we didn’t request our room cleaned every day. So cute.

These are out of order because they are from Tom’s phone and mine, but people were cliff jumping and I wanted in! I talked the crew into swimming over with me and found out adi and Matt had already jumped. Then Tom and Matt went up to the higher cliff and so that’s Tom up there trying to psych himself into jumping. It was high!

And there’s Matt. He didn’t hesitate, just jumped.

He jumped the high cliff twice, and Tom swam around to take pics from the water. Several people hit the rocks on this cliff, and Tom smartly decided it wasn’t worth the risk.

Matt..:

And there he goes!

So brave!

Still falling..:

Still falling…

This one is hilarious zoomed in.

I can’t even! 🤣 Questioning all his life choices!

The cliff I jumped from was 1/2 or 2/3 of that, and the force from hitting the water is powerful!

Tom tried 4-5 times, but just kept walking back. It was kind of funny.

Mmmm, maybe not. 🤣

🤣

He really thought about it, but nah.

But before Matt did the big jump, we all did the smaller one. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I’m psyching myself up in this shot. Swinging my arms all cool like, I got this.

And then I’m pointing to the rocks saying, it looks like I’ll hit those if I jump. And a sweet Italian man/boy assured me that I wouldn’t. And then I made sure, like, even if I jump straight in, and he assured me again. Almost 46-year-olds need lots of assurance.

I had dragged Damian, Jeanne, and Frankie up with me, so I had to be brave and to first.

And without too much hesitation, I did. Just look at that amazing form. 🤣 I hit the water so hard that I got a mouth and nose full of saltwater *and* lost my Apple Watch. Thankfully Matt had bought nice swim goggles in Montenegro and would you believe he found it? He’s amazing!

Then we decided to do a group jump - Tom, Damian, Matt, Jeanne, Frankie, and I. Tom, or Thomas if you are one of his friends, isn’t it funny how family clings to old nicknames? Anyway, Thomas was brave and held his camera as we prepared and talked about our jump.

Then Frankie wasn’t comfortable with all 6 of us going at once, so the boys went first.

And then the girls went. I decided to hold my nose that time, but needn’t have bothered because as soon as I hit the water my hand was forced up and I still got a nose and mouthful of yucky saltwater.

Jeanne hesitated just a second.

It was so cool. And then swimming over there near the big ships and rocks and open waters behind us, it was magical.

These guys decided to head back to the shop for lunch and took Frankie and Jeanne with them.

We got to hang out with Kristi and Quinn too, but max stayed on the ship.

This little piggy was happily at the beach making drip castles on herself. And then I told her we’d cliff jumped and she was all like, I want to!

So then we swam on back over! This is what it looked like from the beach.

Deep water swimming = ❤️

Haha.

I know there are way too many, but they are so fun.

The boys kept going and going. Tom was doing flips and Matt somehow got doubles of him here.

A weird leg shot. Those waterproof phone bag/cases are pretty sweet!

The water was so clear! That’s another reason Matt was able to find my watch.

Kristi, Quinn, and I overdoing the fun.

And Tom looking like a stud on the far right.

Helping girls prepare to jump from the lower lower level. Quinn and Adi scraped their legs up pretty good on those rocks. And Tom said a guy fell and got that lower rock all bloody. Yikes.

Go Delaney, go!

Everybody was king fu fighting!

And brave Adi, the first jumper of us all.

They were really getting into it.

As soon as Kristi and Quinn headed back to the ship I swam over here and tread water and took pictures. I could tread water forever, it’s my favorite form of exercise. I want a water treading troth in my yard.

Snorkeling.

Flipping.

Is it any wonder that this was the favorite stop and one of the favorite things overall of every person that jumped? It was so special.

Tommy and I had been talking about getting “authentic” (as authentic as food offerings near ship ports are) food since Athens and then hadn’t made it happen - the windjammer and ac were just too alluring. But Tom had seen this little stand so we gave it a whirl and holy moly! Best meal of the trip. Right up there with my supermarket sandwich. I guess I’m just a low budget lady, but anyway, this was so delicious! Matt and I got a flaky, creamy white cheesy pie thing, adi and Delaney got pizza, and Tom got a ham and cheese calzone kind of sandwich. Then Adi got a baguette and we shared a Nutella roll and it was only €17! We walked and ate, and almost went back for more, it was that good.

We got back to the ship and spent a long time packing and encouraging girls to use their onboard credits and pack and clean. And by encouraging I mean tracking each one down (not wonderful Adi, because she is really wonderful and had enjoyed her first massage with her onboard credit) and then going shopping with both girls individually suggesting and calculating. They really don’t have the cutest stuff, so it took some digging to find things they would like.

We had to do some parenting cleanup because the teen club was so fun and choices were made and discussions were had. Unfortunately our last dinner wasn’t the best because our dad was sick and couldn’t join us and then Frankie had trouble not being on her phone and then there was drama with that and then everyone has an opinion and we talked about feelings and it was good but hard. There are lots of different values represented in our family and we love each other and work to respect each other and sometimes we don’t do the best job. But we are committed and even though it is sometimes awkward and sometimes hard, we made it through and I think will all be better for it.

Anyways, before dinner I was packing my heart out - our large suitcase to go home with Alli, and then figuring out where everything else would fit, when I looked up and saw thing beauty.