One thing I really liked about our tour guide, Duka, was his approach to our time schedule. As he called it, we were going the be leaving each day at a "civilized" time. Not getting up and rushing first thing in the morning; we usually didn't leave a hotel until 9am and sometimes with shorter destinations it was even an hour later. Yes, civilized, for sure. The route this Tuesday morning was a long drive and the beautiful coastal route once again. We stopped often for breaks, and always time for a a cappuccino, that's rare on most guided tours. Lunch that day was at this darling fishing village, though I don't remember its name. With at least an hour, we picked up a sandwich in a bakery and then just walked the water front ending with a coffee and sweet before departing and arriving in Split about 3PM.
The main attraction in Split was to visit the Diocletian's Palace, an ancient palace built for the Roma Emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century. It forms about half of the old town of Split. Though most palaces are large, this palace more resembles a fortress in size. It was enormous! This is a drawing of the layout of the original palace.
We had an interior tour for about 30 minutes trying to understand the relationship of the construction and the nearness of the sea. As we walked through the vaulted rooms we even came upon an art exhibit in one area,
Celestial Architecture.
And of course a sculpture of the emperor himself. Not a handsome man, and one with enormous cruelty.
But the most amazing part of the walking tour was in the upper portions of the palace which in time has been taken over by squatters. Homes, well, more like dwellings than homes, have been built with little or no design or hygienic facilities. It's really neither a palace nor a museum but a living city atop the foundation-home to about 3,000 people and a jumble of streets packed with bars, shops and even a hotel. Narrow passage ways hide courtyards and hanging laundry. Quite a visit! Evidently many of the houses are even available for vacation rentals.
Portions of the palace today have been used as the set for the fourth season of the Game of Thrones.
The hotel within the palace walls.
Some of the original Roman column are still standing though they're slowly tilting and decaying.
The upper portion of this temple is "stapled" together to keep it from crumbling.
Bell tower as we exited the palace.
Once we left the palace we wandered through the beautiful old town and found a wonderful cafe for dinner and sunset. Our timing was perfect to watch this lovely light fall into darkness, suddenly dropping the temperature along with it.
Just one night in this city, before moving on to the lovely Croatian resort area of the Istrian Peninsula.
One thing I really liked about our tour guide, Duka, was his approach to our time schedule. As he called it, we were going the be leaving each day at a "civilized" time. Not getting up and rushing first thing in the morning; we usually didn't leave a hotel until 9am and sometimes with shorter destinations it was even an hour later. Yes, civilized, for sure. The route this Tuesday morning was a long drive and the beautiful coastal route once again. We stopped often for breaks, and always time for a a cappuccino, that's rare on most guided tours. Lunch that day was at this darling fishing village, though I don't remember its name. With at least an hour, we picked up a sandwich in a bakery and then just walked the water front ending with a coffee and sweet before departing and arriving in Split about 3PM.
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