Split

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Split - Day 6-8 (28-30 August)

We left Korcula at 5:45am taking a Catamaran Ferry for a few hours journey to Split. Split is a larger town on the Dalmatian mainland but it too has an old town, or more correctly a palace compound. We stayed right in the heart of it.

The palace was of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who loved Split for it’s beautry and therapuetic thermal spas. He built himself a palace here in the late 3rd century, for holidays and later for retirement. However, after his death it became disused and some time later (7th century) permission was given to some Romans to return from their exile and to set up insdie the palace area. Accordingly, many of the palace buildings are no longer there, having been replaced by ordinary dwellings, but under the city their remains the basement areas which show the scale of the place. We had a very informative guided tour of the city and the Roman remains.

It was hot here, so short walks and then return to the hotel to cool down was the order of the day. The front area of Splt was the Riva which was a promenade area with a view of the harbour. As it had been so hot I decided to get up early (7:30) to walk up the hill that overlooked the town of Split, storm clouds were approaching but I thought I’d have enough time to explore, which was mostly true.

The view over the town was worth the climb up the many stairs (I didn’t count), and then I worked further along skirting the coast, but the view was a little hindered by the trees. The clouds were quiet black and thunder rumbling, so eventually I decided to turn back. I almost made it before the rain came, halfway down the stairs. I took shelter under the trees for a while and as it eased I headed off. I noticed on one of the steps that someone had dropped there EU id card, equivalent to a passport and used for identity purposes in many places. I asked our reception where the police station was, and they offered to phone the owner if they could find a number or take to the police station.

We had a final night dinner at a local restaurant to say good-bye to those that were leaving, and a welcome dinner at the same restaurant to meet our new people the following night.

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Photos

Only remaining in tact sphinx
The others were destroyed by Christians at some point

A long fingured statue of John the Baptist
Long fingers being the hallmark of this sculptor

A scholar
A very imposing figure!