Split: The Roman Bits

Split is Croatia's second-largest city, capital of the Dalmatian coast, a major tourist destination, and it has a very long history, going back, of course, to the Greek colonists of the 2nd or 3rd centuries BC. Diocletian, one of the more famous/infamous Roman emperors, was born in nearby Salona, and when he decided to retire, and possibly not get assassinated, he built his great fortified retirement palace by the sea at Split, then known as Spalatos. He abdicated in 305 AD and indeed lived another ten years in the palace (with a staff and palace guard numbering in the thousands, of course). The Empire split up, the barbarians invaded, and after they left, in the 7th century, the locals moved back in, converting the fortified palace into their fortified town. For another thousand years, Split was a pawn in the struggles among the Byzantines, the Venetians, the Turks, the Hungarians, the Austrians, the Napoleons, the Germans, the Yugoslavs, et al. It is one of the more dizzying histories I know of, especially since Split generally folded, paid a tribute, and moved on under whatever flag was asendant. Anyhow, Split endured and enough bits of Diocletian's palace endured, and, given the mountain/coastal scenery, the beaches, the protected waters, the fine warm and sunny weather, it became a major tourist destination in these parts. And the rest, as they say, is...cruise ships. Anyhow, our interest was largely the old town and the palace, so I will split my Split posts between the Roman Bits and the Other Bits.

Driving into Split the night before; below you'll mostly see the old city and
the Roman stuff; most of what's there, however, is Yugoslavian-era buildings,
housing blocks, and so on; but also much new development

Artist's conception of what Diocletian's palace looked like, in its day

Aerial view of today's Split; the outline of the old fortified palace is clearly
visible; over the centuries, people just built into it, over it, around it, on top of it...

After a 5k bus ride in from our campground in Strobec, here we are entering
one of the side portals 

In the peristyle area where most all the well-preserved Roman stuff is

The tower was added in the 11th century, well into the
Christian era at Split

Roman bits almost any place you look in the old town

So Diocletian's mausoleum was converted into a cathedral, in fact, Roman
Catholicism's smallest cathedral; redesigned by the Bishop of Ravenna, whose
cathedral it loosely resembles (he did not get the memo about cruciform
cathedrals); also resembles a bit Charlemagne's church at Aachen; he visited
Ravenna in 800 AD on his victory tour after being name Holy Roman Emporer

Dome, rotunda, totally Roman

Looking from the dome into the tiny chancel/choir

Detail

Now in the Christian baptistry/Roman temple of Jupiter

Baptismal tub

More detail

This is on the harbor-view side of the palace; now apartments, B&Bs, what
have you; that's a bit of the Croatian flag in the window...World Cup, you know

Artist's conception of what the harbor side of the palace looked like back when;
have I mentioned that the interpretive language has been great, and in about 8
languages, too? Including English

Helpful bronze model #1,491

Another day, at the main entrance to the palace/old city; note Roman soldier
re-enactors...

Part of the wall on that side

Us, there

On To The Balkans

One of the advantages of traveling as we do is that we can change our minds and change directions. Our only big constraints are the Schengen Agreement (the 90-day visa thing) and airline reservations. When we "planned" this year's Italian campaign, we figured we'd do some of the south, Sicily, Malta, and then head up north to the Alps or the Dolomites when the weather got too warm. Stay there in Courmayeur or Chamonix, places we know and love. Hike and climb. Enjoy great scenery. Eat great food, whether Italian or French. That was our plan.

Somehow it changed: the allure of the untried, the unknown. Friends, fellow travelers, have extolled the Balkans, and, although we have done much of eastern Europe, we'd never ventured beyond Trieste. So, mostly wanting something new and exciting, we decided we'd head into the Balkans, hitting the high spots of Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Hertzegovina. We had to add a few countries to our credit card approval list and check our vehicle insurance, but otherwise it was a "go." We'd find an English travel guide somewhere along the way. (We didn't). Turn right at the top of the Adriatic, turn right again and head south. Hope that the Italian TIM phone/data plan would continue to work. (Some places yes, some places, no).

So we bid adieu to Prato Smeraldo, hit the Gran Anulare Ricordo, by-passed Rome, and headed north, passing many favorite and wonderful places, vowing to return, stopping for the night at Terme Abano, near Padua. And then back on the road the next morning, braving the northern Italian truck traffic, and indeed turning right, over the Adriatic, and then right again, into Slovenia. Determined to get on with it, we drove right on to Split, Croatia, where our Balkan adventure began.

So there we are, over Trieste (we think), the Balkans on the left, Italy on the
right, passing into Slovenia...

And so what is the first thing you'd see? Porky's, of course

And there's Porky himself; turns out we'd see many more such establishments

Discouraged but undeterred, we carried on

We are apparently not the first RV to enter the Balkans; by the time we reached
Split, we were commenting we'd never seen so many RVs except in Arizona
and southwestern France

Most interestingly, the Adriatic's eastern coast is lined by large picturesque
islands, each with a stunning coastline itself

Above Split, about to descend to the coast and the Split RV park

Galleria Borghese, 2018

Somehow we always seem to save the Galleria Borghese for last or almost last. Always want to leave on a high, fire on the up-roll....

Walking from Termini to our bus stop..."And in English too..." Shouldn't this
be "balcia e cavalca"? or at least "Kiss-o e ride-o"?

In the old Alberto Sordi shopping mall, at a bookstore,
looking for a book; turns out the best selection is at the big
bookstore in Termini

Pines of the Villa Borghese; love the old Toscanini version

The Galleria Borghese; always over-run

You can breeze through much of the 16th-17th century
Italian painting; either not that great or so poorly displayed, 
like this Cranach, as to be un-viewable

Nice Botticelli, Venus with Cupid and Psyche; wait, no...

The real draw is all the Berninis, of which nearly all are KOs

The walls and ceilings and floors are pretty amazing in their own right

Aeneas and his dad, escaping Troy

Bernini, Truth

Also more Caravaggios than any other location

A way better St. Jerome than the one we didn't see in Malta

And this fairly incredible St. John (I triple dog swear I am
not making this up)

St. John with fruit

The illusionary stuff alone is worth the price of admission

A great hall filled with sculpture and Roman mosaics 

Scenes from the gladiatorial school 

Must watch A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum again

Canova's Venus, actually Napoleon's sis, Pauline Bonaparte

I think Bernini was the best of sculptors, despite being
Baroque all the time; but his David does not compare
favorably with either Donatello's or you know who's

The best of the best, Bernini's Apollo and Daphne

As you entered the room, originally, this is what you saw
initially...no hint of what was going on

Ceiling painting above the statue

As I said, the place is worth visiting just for the illusionary stuff

Everything you see here, as they say, is paint

"Golden rules of civility..." how we miss them...