Split, Croatia

The morning of our one full day in Split, we got up and found an outdoor cafe in a small courtyard within the Old Town. We had omelettes to sustain ourselves for sight-seeing, then headed to the main event: a self-guided tour of Diocletian's Palace.

Paul at breakfast

Nearly 1500 years ago, the emperor Diocletian (of the Roman Empire) decided to retire, and built an enormous palace where the city of Split now lies. The palace was abandoned eventually, then re-occupied by people fleeing some sort of war nearby. Rather than tearing down the palace to use the materials to create new buildings, they just moved into the old digs and built apartments, shops, etc into the walls of the palace. It still exists in this form today! In fact, the apartment we rented through AirBnb was within the palace walls.

Our tour started with a walk through the excavated basements of the palace. When the new residents moved in (many, many years ago), they occupied the upper floors and carved holes in their floors to drain all their waste and garbage. These areas have now been cleaned up (apparently there was a lot of fascinating archeological pieces to be found amongst years of solid waste. *mild shudder*) and you can tour them. It's fascinating to see the Roman architecture and know that the place was built in just a few years (of course with slave labor).

Me in one of the larger rooms of the basement; they still use these areas for posh social events, like charity fundraisers, fashion shows, and art exhibits.

The ceiling of a mini rotunda in the basement of the Palace.

An unexcavated area -- it didn't actually smell bad but we were aware that it was ancient sewage! (Hence the pose.)

Bust of Diocletian, who built the Palace for his retirement. He envisioned himself as a son of the gods, and called himself Jovius (related to Jove/Jupiter).

After leaving the basements, we explored around the rest of the Palace, including inside the smallest cathedral in Europe. It was originally built as part of a mausoleum complex for Diocletian, but now is (ironically) a cathedral honoring certain Christian martyrs who died under the reign of Diocletian. We went through the cathedral, which was really beautiful, and peeked into the crypt under the church as well. The cathedral is located on the Peristyle, which still has original columns and Sphinx statues from Egyptian marble from Diocletian's time. The Peristyle is now a relatively small square that is actually part of a bar -- the steps around it are dotted with cushions, which you can order drinks from waiters. We didn't sit here, but it was a neat atmosphere, especially at night when they had live musicians.

On one side of the Peristyle is an open rotunda, which was meant to impress visitors to the Palace back in the day. Now it is chiefly used by a group of male a cappella singers who sing traditional Dalmatian melodies in the incredible acoustics (for money and to sell CDs). We did get to hear the tail end of one of their brief performances, and it was beautiful -- gave me goosebumps. 

The Peristyle

The rotunda

Me in the rotunda. The alcoves would have held statues but are now empty.

Looking at the bell tower within Diocletian's palace

Across the Peristyle from the cathedral, and down a narrow street (packed with tour groups!) is the former Temple of Jupiter, which was later changed into a baptistry. The statue is by Ivan Mestrovic, the most famous modern Croatian sculptor. There is a Mestrovic museum in Split, but we didn't have the time to visit it.

The baptistry

Original Roman art on barrel vault ceiling of the baptistry

Now headless Sphinx that was brought back from Egypt by Diocletian (and me behind where his head once was)

Our apartment host had warned us of a shouting commotion that happens at noon daily in the Peristyle -- telling us not to be frightened (!). So of course we had to check it out! At noon, "Diocletian" and his "wife" come out to greet the people [tourists] of Split, to great fanfare. He speaks in English and gets people excited to shout "Ave!"["Hail!"]. It lasts about 5 minutes and is pure silliness, but worth the laugh :) 

The trumpets "playing" a fanfare to announce Diocletian's arrival. They just stand there with instruments while recorded music is piped in through loudspeakers.

Diocletian and his wife, protected by their guards.

Our last sightseeing stop in the Palace was to step out the gates on the far side of the town (away from the water) to see the most complete set of Palace walls that still exist. This is fairly close to what the palace would have looked like when it was originally built. The seaside walls have been changed quite a bit as shops and apartments were put in over the years.

After stopping by the bus station to purchase tickets for our journey to the Split airport the next day, we wandered briefly through the local market before heading up a large hill onto the Marjan peninsula to get some views of the whole town. It was about a 20 minute hike up a stepped street to get to the best view point.

Local produce market

Large cruise ships in the harbor

Looking up the stepped street that led to viewpoints over Split

View of Split with mountains behind it. In the center is the bell tower, very close to the Peristyle in the center of the Palace.

Enjoying the views!

Looking out toward Brac (island in the Adriatic)

View from the harbor; the Riva is the seafront pedestrian area lined with palm trees.

After we got back from our walk up the Marjan peninsula, we grabbed a piece of pizza and people-watching while we decided our next activity... which ended up being a little siesta back at the apartment. After relaxing and reading for a bit, we headed back out to the Riva, the pedestrian area on the harborfront, to find an outdoor seat and a cold drink.

The view from our cocktail hour

We sat and enjoyed the sunset over the Marjan peninsula and the water, then headed to get some dinner at a medium-sized Italian restaurant on the "People's Square" within the old town. Our last Split experience was returning one last time to the lights of the Riva to people watch with some delicious gelato.

Sunset from the Riva

Watching the sunset from a bench on the Riva

The next morning, we packed up and headed out early to the bus station. We arrived to the station around 7:30 for our 8:00 bus to the airport, and were so glad we did! The bus filled up very quickly and then left around 7:40 -- he pulled around to a quieter part of town to then take tickets from people. We aren't sure if there was another bus to take 8:00 passengers, but it seemed like a lot of people would have missed their scheduled bus with it leaving 20 minutes early. 

The flight back was easy and uneventful, and we were happy to get back and see Charlotte -- who was very well taken care of by Paul's mom and sister. I would recommend Croatia to anyone looking for a relaxing vacation with gorgeous scenery and quite a bit of interesting history as well.