Split and Diocletians Palace

Today was all about getting our bearings, but it turns out you don’t actually need to, you always end up back at the promenade or outside one of the palace walls. Split is a bit like Venice, without the canals!

We started off with a lazy breakfast in our hotel; it has a lovely secret garden at the back for hotel guests so we sat their and enjoyed eggs Benedict and an omelette, as well as coffee and a fruit bowl with yoghurt.

Our tour didn’t start until 10,30am, and the meeting point was just five minutes away, so we weren’t  particularly rushed. This was a 1.5 hour walking tour around Split and Diocletians Palace, and we started at the Golden Gate, the most important so we were told. And apparently still guarded by Roman soldiers!

The palace is over 1,500 years old and was built by Emperor Diocletian in the turn of the 4th Century, he wanted to use it for his retirement, as you do! Apart from being one of the most important Romans, as he extended the life of the Roman Empire by about 200 years, he also voluntarily gave up the throne which had never been done before. It wasn’t all plain sailing, Diocletian was hated by Christians as they were persecuted under his reign; in fact, on 23 February 303, Diocletian ordered a newly built Christian church to be razed, its scriptures burned and its treasures seized. 23 February was the feast of the Terminalia, for Terminus, the god of boundaries. It was the next day they would terminate Christianity. The following day, Diocletians first “Edict against the Christians” was published

Now you’re probably thinking, why did I just tell you that? Simple, the next picture! This is Gregory of Nin, a Croatian Catholic prelate who served as a medieval Bishop of Nin and strongly opposed the pope and official circles of the Catholic Church. And why is this statue by Ivan Meštrovic important; well he is 8.5 metres tall and stands beside the Golden gate. I can imagine Diocletian would be particularly unhappy that he is positioned right beside the most important gate of the palace!

Our guide told us a funny story about this statue, but I’m not sure if it’s true or not. The statue was cut into bits and hidden by locals during the war to stop it being melted into bullets, and when it was being resurrected, a bottle of Rakija was found inside. Now during a restoration project, the Rakija was found and the people restoring the statue drank it. During the restoration they decided to continue and to this day, there is another bottle of Rakija inside just waiting for the next generation of restorers. 

Anyways, back to the palace.

Nowadays, the palace has become the old town of Split with loads of cafes, restaurants, bars and also apartments, but the ruins in some areas are well preserved and quite spectacular.

I love this little alcove; on one side, Diocletians Palace and how it would have looked, to today’s most important sport, football! And in this city, it’s Hadjuk Split! I have to say, I think I’m more a Dynamo Zagreb fan though as the city is known as the “blue city.”

Just outside of the palace walls is the main square, annd also where our hotel is situated, and there is a famous store and book monument on the ground. Although occupied by the Italians during WW2, there was persecution of Jewish people. This store was a bookshop, and was owed by a Jew, Where the book emorial now stands, was where all the books were taken and burned on the street. 

Also, from the main same square, you can see the sun clock; the face has 24 roman numerals rather than 12; its really cool and another one of these weird features which sit alongside gelato shops and other modern buildings.

Our next stop was Saint Dominic’s Bell Tower, although we didn’t go in on the tour, it was beautiful lit up by the sun. We would go back later on and climb to the top!

As we ascended the steps to where the Emperor would great the peasants, we passed through the hall he would have walked through before coming face-to face with the public. Here there were traditional Dalmatian singers, who were pretty good but apparently it is a dying art. The place that they played was a bit like the colosseum, and the sound was magnified. 

The Sphinx is the oldest statue in the palace, it brought by Diocletian from Egypt as he was obsessed with all things Egyptian. Just for context, this is over 3000 years old, whereas the palace is only 1500 years old! Again you can see, where really old, old, new and really new meets! The whole city within the palace is a bit like this. 

After the tour, we had a much needed gelato and Idid a bit of retail therapy. People always ask, how do you find time to blog? It’s simple, give Iain a beer and a phone and he is happy as Larry!

After a beer and a bit of blogging, we decided to visit the Bell Tower. One thing to note, from around 11am to 3.30pm, Split increases in population dramatically; this is because cruise ships start to come in. It’s best to avoid this time for sightseeing, hence we left the tower until a bit later! 

We bought a “blue ticket” from the desk which we thought included the Cathedral, the Crypt and the tower, but we got it slightly wrong and had to go back and buy an additional ticket! It’s all a bit of a con, so make sure you double-check what you want to visit. In the end, we only paid an extra 2 EUR and we got to see more than we originally planned.

We started at the Cathedral, a Catholic cathedral consecrated at the turn of the 7th century; it is regarded as the oldest Catholic cathedral in the world that remains in use in its original structure. They are very strict about letting people in with vest tops, so I had a wear a horrible brown blanket around my shoulders and also around my waist as I was wearing shorts. It was only a small cathedral so we didn’t take long to visit.

Our next stop was the Crypt of St. Lucie, one of the last victims of Christian persecutions under Diocletians reign. The legend says that Lucie gauged out her eyes out of despair and sent them to her rejected fiancé on a plate. By miracle, the Virgin Mary returned even more beautiful eyes to her, but this is why she is regarded as the patron saint of the blind.

Our next stop was the Bell Tower, but only after we bought the tickets we needed! This tower is the city’s main symbol and is about 60 metres high. The tower as we see it today, was radically changed in 1908, and most of the original Romanesque structures were removed. The first twenty or so steps are pretty horrendous, especially if you are short like me, but the structure inside is absolutely fine which you can see from the pictures. The view from the top is worth it, and you really get an idea of the old town with its narrow streets and mix of old and new buildings.

The final part of our ticket was the Temple of Jupiter, a temple dedicated to the Roman god Jupiter. It was built between 295 and 305, and was turned into the Baptistery of St John in the 6th century. Apparently, the temple symbolised the “sovereignty and immortality” of Roman civilisation.

Beside the bell tower and underneath the area where the emperor addressed the peasants, is a maze of cellars. Now these are quite impressive, but if you are a Game of Thrones (GoT) fan, you may recognise this from the scene where Daenerys locks up the dragons. It also took about 20 attempts to try to get the picture without any people in it!

We were starting to get hungry, so thought we would get lost in the little side streets and see where it took us. The restaurant was called Oh, la la and was quaint little place in a mini square. The food was good, and so was the wine, albeit quite a bit more expensive than what we were paying in Zagreb.

After dinner, we dropped by our hotel to grab a jacket and I changed into long trousers and a cardigan. The plan was to head back to the bell tower as there is a cafe restaurant called Luxor, where a musician plays live music to the square. There are a number of red cushions dotted about the stone steps and the waiters come and take your order for food and drinks. I had a large glass of red wine (175ml) and Iain had a beer, 24 EUR later! The price didn’t put us off too much as it became quite atmospheric when the darkness came and we ended up staying for a few rounds. For some reason, we thought it would be Croatian music, but it ranged from Simon & Garfunkel to The Beatles and Coldplay.

If we didn’t have a speedboat tour planned the next again day, we would probably have stayed longer, but I didn’t fancy being sick over the side of the boat!