Chalkmarks - travel, trips and tips

Why my home in Dalmatia had a Split personality

Hvar got sun news for you!

Out of war comes a peace of art

Leave behind the drama, it’s calmer in Varna

Raising the Olympic bar on chocolate in Lausanne

There’s lots to like when you travel by bike in Umbria

Chalkmarks

When travel is the mantra

Prepare for adventure

Latest Articles

Holy crab. It’s Jesus’ face in crustacean

THE face of Jesus has been “miraculously” found on the shell of a crab in Malaysia.

28th August 2018

Living and teaching in Lima

AFTER backpacking around Peru Natalie Chalk is hooked but finds teaching English in Lima to be full of surprises.

26th August 2018

The New York cabbies guide to eating in the Big Apple

INSTEAD of going in search of the best eats in New York, I asked the experts, New York cabbies.

26th August 2018

All at sea in Stockholm the city of islands

HERE’S something I didn’t know: Stockholm is a capital of 14 islands. This impresses me but I can’t find a Swede who agrees.

22nd August 2018

What is Špica?

FORGET Danish Hygge, Croatians are giving us Špica…and it all begins with a cup of coffee.

5th August 2018

Why my home in Dalmatia had a Split personality

THIS is where I stayed in a socialist tower covered in graffiti in Croatia better known as the gateway to the islands.

23rd July 2018

Hvar got sun news for you!

HVAR a gorgeous Croatian island in the Adriatic known as the sunniest spot in Europe with around 115 sunny days each year.

16th July 2018

Out of war comes a peace of art

NENO Mikulic is Split’s favourite sculptor. The Croatian artist is a former solider who served during the 1991-1995 War.

16th July 2018

Published articles

Mail on Sunday

You’ve had Champagne, tasted Prosecco, tried Cava, now who’s for a Crémant?
IT’S the fabulous festive fizz from France that’s about to burst the prosecco bubble.

Sunday Mirror

Feastern Europe
TUCKED away in the north-east corner of Slovenia is a tasty food-lover’s paradise.

The Guardian

Living in Lima
AFTER backpacking around Peru Natalie Chalk is hooked but finds teaching English in Lima to be full of surprises.

Daily Express

Experience Denmark’s second city, Aarhus
DESPITE those Scandi-noir sagas and Sarah Lund jumpers, Denmark has been voted the happiest place on the planet.

May 2020

From the blog: The Best and the Worst

Nuzzled by the largest land animal on earth
WE leave at 6.30am without breakfast, only hot water bottles and blankets heading out on a wild South African safari.

Postcard from Bali: How to survive a volcano
I WRITE to you watching a volcano erupting on Bali. It’s gonna be a blast. Wish you were here.

My cracking time with the Magic Man
GODDAMN it, this isn’t going well. I’m lying face down on my hotel bed while a ‘magic man’ cracks my bones.

Hell or high water: Atlantic crossing was my biggest test
NATALIE sailed on board the world’s eighth largest passenger liner, the Anthem of the Seas sailing from England to America.