Split. Got it? Split is the second largest city in Croatia and its energy and traffic seems to funnel down into the harbor area on weekends. The harbor area is where the bus station is, where the train station is, where the ferry station is, where the cruise ships are, and finally, it is where the Roman Palace of Emperor Diocletian is located. The city is over 1,700 years old. You may remember Diocletian. He was the Roman Emperor who ruled for 20 years and is best remembered for dividing up the huge empire among 4 emperors ( which weakened it & eventually led to the empire’s decline) and for torturing and executing over 1000 Christians, most of these were living in his hometown around Split. His successor, Constantine, not only legalized Christianity but made it the official religion of the empire. Ya know we learn this stuff in school but book learning doesn’t let you connect the dots…travel does.
The Palace of Emperor Diocletian, built in the 4th century AD, is different than any Roman ruin you have ever been to. Its grounds, its remains, its walls — house a living, breathing city within the greater city of modern day Split. It was designed to be Diocletian’s retirement home, but the massive structure resembles a large fortress. Every nook and cranny of the Palace is packed with restaurants, bars, shops, and short term rental apartments. And yes, before you ask it, some of Game of Thrones was filmed here.
We stayed in an AirBnB rental that was inside and connected to the city walls. There was a section of our building that is part of the original towers in the palace. Our space was on the top floor of the building and had a great terrace and outdoor bathtub that afforded us amazing views from dawn to dusk and beyond.
The Split harbor is full of ferries, pleasure crafts and fishing boats. Its scale dwarfs all of the harbors that we have visited this trip (we haven’t gone to major commercial harbors, because that wouldn’t be fun– this is vacation!). If you wanted to motor or sail the Adriatic Sea, you will find your most options here.
The most well preserved part of Diocletian’s Palace is the basement. After the Romans moved out and various other groups moved into the palace, the basement complex became largely a combination rubbish bin and cesspool for those living within its walls. Add a few hundreds of years and when it came time for archaeologists to go to work, they had to spend and continue to spend, time removing petrified waste. Yuck! (Eds. not sure why we are too tired to color correct these photos).
Two highlights in the foodie world was having excellent seafood at Makarun ( http://www.makarun.com/#_=_ ). The grilled flounder below was amazing. Another great experience was sampling local wines with paired cheeses and charcuterie at Paradox ( https://www.facebook.com/wineandcheese.hr#_=_ )
Here are some snaps climbing the tower and from inside the Cathedral / Mausoleum complex:
