The Road Goes Ever On

Split: The Other Bits

Mostly non-Roman street scenes and buildings in the old quarter...

Very narrow alleys

And nice open squares

Almost art nuvo...

Former fish market

Old archepiscopal seminary, now Islamic place of worship

Everything in the old city is paved in these polished
limestone slabs

Croatia is big truffle country; don't you know?

"Newer" building fronting the harbor

A gorgeous old building and piazza, dating, I would guess, from the Venetian
regime; no, the guidebook says, early 1800s, Napoleonic regime

Beautiful little building stuck right onto the palace

Harbor front

Back at the peristyle Roman bit, the Luxor cafe; there is inside seating but it's
more fashionable to order a drink and sit, using one of the cushion provided,
on Diocletian's steps

Definitely not Roman

Fascinating place, the new slapped right onto the old, the old slapped right onto
the older...this is much of Europe, although here it is far more obvious, and with
far better preservation of the oldest bits

Split: More Roman Bits

More of the Roman bits of Split, Croatia...

Back in the peristyle area of the palace; a nice sphinx, one of more than a
dozen originally

Oculus

Certainly the coolest thing about the palace is the basement, which extended
over about half the complex (it was built on an incline), and which you can
visit; about 1/3 is the souvenir shoppes area, here (Diocletian's Bargain
Basement)

For a few kuna, you can go into the other 2/3s

Vicki points to...well, I think that's where our campground is

This is the large hall where Daenerys locked up the dragons; much more GoT
stuff coming up in the out-takes..

Abundant spare parts in the basement

Also abundant centuries of sludge and refuse the residents
dropped down through holes in the floor above;
archaeologists are drooling to get into it

Another of the sizable halls; barrel vaulting

Ever more Roman stuff

Bust, I would guess recent, of the Emperor (ret.)

Sphinx bit

And ever more spare parts

Outside, the only mosaic we saw in the place

Restaurant between the arches

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