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To travel to Split from Opatija, we rented a small car and drove on the major
tollways, the A6 and the A1. Prior to the War of Croatian Independence in
1991, the only multi-lane, limited access highway in Croatia was the
Brotherhood and Unity Highway (known in Croatia as the A3), which connected
the capitals of Slovenia, Croatian, Serbia, and Macedonia. Since
independence, Croatia has been aggressively building tollways to improve its
road infrastructure faster than tax revenue alone would allow.
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In the mountains, we drove through rain and fog.
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One of the mountains between the highway and the coast.
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The mountains in the Croatian littoral are primarily dolomite, a
sedentary rock.
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Closer to the Adriatic Sea, near the town of Jasenice, the landscape changes
to rocks and scrub vegetation.
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This kind of country is good for grapes and olives and not much else.
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Another dramatic mountain on the drive.
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On our way into the center city, we drove by Stadion Poljud (Poljud Stadium),
home of the soccer franchise Hajduk Split.
Built to host the 1979 Mediterranean Games, the stadium has a seating
capacity of about 35,000. Hajduk Split has a fierce rivalry with
the NK Dinamo Zagreb.
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The Trg Narodni, or Pjaca (Piazza) at night. The Pjaca is the largest
public square inside the old town of Split.
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The view of the Pjaca looking to the east, toward the ancient walls of
Diocletian's Palace. The gate in the palace walls is to the right of
the green clock tower.
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Marmontova was a wide, pedestrian-only avenue on the western side of the
old town of Split.
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Jen, in the hallway of the apartment building we were staying in. We
had a very nice one-bedroom apartment in the heart of the old town, in a
small square down a narrow street north of the Pjaca.
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This was the street we walked down from the apartment to the Pjaca.
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The logo of local soccer club Hajduk Split
was painted on the back door of a shop.
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The Pjaca in the daytime, standing at the eastern end, looking to the west.
The street to our apartment was on the right, just past the cafe tables.
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The arches above this street are part of the walls of Diocletian's Palace.
This is looking east, into the part of the old town surrounded by the
palace walls.
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A close-up of the western wall of Diocletian's Palace.
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Looking back to the west, toward the Pjaca.
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Inside Diocletian's Palace is the Peristil (Peristyle), a large north-south
oriented square in front of what is now the Katedrala Sv. Duje (Cathedral
of St. Domnius).
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The bell tower of the Katedrala Sv. Duje.
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The buildings on the west side of the Peristil.
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Some of the exterior walls of Katedrala Sv. Duje. The cathedral building
was formerly an Imperial Roman mausoleum and is one of the original buildings
from the time of the Emperor Diocletian.
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On the north side of Katedrala Sv. Duje was a small lawn with broken
stone columns and blocks of decorative stone from Roman times. A small
clowder of cats apparently lived among the stones and were playing when
we walked by.
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This cat with spots was exploring all the nooks and crannies between the
stone blocks.
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This cafe was on Kraljice Jelene, the wide east-west street perpendicular
to the Peristil. The stone wall and building behind the cafe were part of
the Katedrala Sv. Duje.
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In the foreground is an ancient Roman column. In the background is the
bell tower of the Katedrala Sv. Duje.
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On Kraljice Jelene, looking west. The building on the far left is the
Katedrala Sv. Duje.
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The Silver Gate in the east wall of Diocletian's Palace.
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A close-up of the stonework above the Silver Gate.
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This open, circular chamber must have had a roof at some point.
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The sky through the open roof.
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Another view of the Peristil.
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The Riva is Split's seaside promenade, built between the harbor and the
old walls of Diocletian's Palace.
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The front facade of the Palace is framed in palm trees.
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Sidewalk cafes serving coffee, beer, and wine line the whole length
of the Riva.
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Storm clouds on the horizon, beyond the harbor.
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The Riva is a wide promenade with palm trees, benches, cafes. It is
supposedly a major social attraction for people living in Split as well as the
tourists.
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The western end of the Riva is anchored by Crkva Sv. Franje (St. Francis
Church). To the right of the church is the Bajamonti-Deskovic Palace, today
operated as a hotel.
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A view of some of the ferries and cruise ships in the harbor. The
Blue Line ferries run between
Split and Ancona, Italy.
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The
Hotel Adriana on the Riva.
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The distinctive umbrellas that line the Riva keep the coffee drinkers dry
and in the shade.
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The waterfront at the Riva, in the late afternoon sunshine.
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The central gallery of the cellars is open to the public and filled with
gift shops.
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The cellars of Diocletian's Palace originally served to provide a level
floor above for the ground floor of the palace. The masonry in the cellars
is over 1,700 years old.
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Although there were a few large tour groups in the cellars at the same time
as us, we managed to avoid most of them.
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Even though this was the cellar of the palace, the stonework must have
been very impressive when it was new.
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One of the main vaults in the cellars.
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A hallways connecting larger vaults.
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An alcove.
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A carved stone block. Throughout the cellars, random artifacts like this
were on display, most often without any explanation as to their significance.
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This wooden beam was recovered under the ground floor of the palace when
the cellars were excavated.
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The archway at the end of this chamber leads into another
chamber that has yet to be excavated.
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A circular roof in one of the smaller vaults.
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Some of the archways, that you would normally assume to connect to another
vault in the cellars, were instead blocked off.
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Some kind of stone basin.
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A bricked in passageway.
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Some of the cellars are still unexcavated.
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These holes in the wall probably supported wooden beams at some point
in the distant past.
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A modern ceiling is being supported by steel beams in the same kind of
nooks on the wall that would have supported wooden beams in the past.
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Another vault in the cellars. During the Middle Ages, this chamber would
have been entirely filled with refuse.
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The underlying terrain made the eastern half of the cellars shallower and some
of the ruins were opened to the levels above and even had staircases to the
upper levels.
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This cat was in an area behind construction tarps that appeared to be in the
restoration process.
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A window high in the wall let light into this chamber.
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On of the cellar rooms had been opened up, with no roof. Palm
trees were planted along one wall. The tower in the distance is the Bell
Tower of the Katedrala Sv. Duje.
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This courtyard was originally a closed-in chamber of the cellars of
Diocletian's Palace.
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These stone blocks were once fitted together to form plumbing drainage.
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An archway and hallway at the far eastern end of the cellars.
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The remains of what was once a carved stone basin.
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A street-side cafe on Kralja Tomislava.
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The Hrvatska Narodno Kazalište
(National Theater of Croatia) is just northwest of the old town. The theater
building was built in 1893.
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At the corner of Marmontova and Teutina are some of the old stone
exterior fortifications that surrounded Diocletian's Palace and the old
town of Split.
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This street is Marmontova, the main avenue on the west side of the
old town of Split.
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Marmontova is maybe 200 meters long, straight and wide. This is looking
south, toward the harbor.
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Public art at the intersection of Marmontova and Kralja Tomislava.
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The Trg Republike, or Republic Square, on the western side of the Old Town.
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Looking south from the northeast corner of Trg Republike, out to the harbor.
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This tower was on the south wall of the old city, between the Riva and Trg
Braće Radić.
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This statue of Marko Marulić (1450-1524) in the Trg Braće
Radić was sculpted by the famous 20th century artist Ivan
Meštrović (1883-1962). Marulić is considered the father
of Croatian vernacular poetry and literature, and the statue features him
posed holding a book.
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The Trg Braće Radić is also known as the "Fruit Square" for
the historical fruit market that was held here.
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Throughput the old town of Split, there were many narrow alleys and roads,
often spanned with buttresses to support the building walls.
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The arched wall spanning this street was part of the ancient walls of
Diocletian's Palace.
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An arched alleyway.
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The logos of two local professional sports franchises.
Hajduk Split is the local soccer club,
and Rugby Nada Split is
a rugby union franchise. Hajduk Split plays in the
Prva HNL, the top professional soccer
league in Croatia. RK Nada plays in the Prvenstvo Hrvatske u ragbiju
(Croatian Rugby Championship).
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A small garden in the old town of Split.
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Some stonework detail above a gate in the old city.
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I watched this small cat chase away a much bigger dog from its shop.
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You can see the Italian Renaissance influence in the architecture of the
old city.
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A relief sculpture in a wall in the old city.
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The Konoba Hvaranin
restaurant, where we ate dinner one night.
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Jupiter's Temple is one of the original palace buildings. Jupiter was
the main god in the Roman religious pantheon. The temple was built between
the years 295 and 305 A.D. During the Middle Ages, the temple was
appropriated as a Catholic baptistery.
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Outside the temple are two ancient Egyptian sphinxes, plunder from Rome's
conquest of Egypt. The sphinxes are supposedly in the same condition as
they were when Emperor Diocletian brought them to the palace.
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Inside the building is now a statue of Saint John the Baptist, sculpted
by Ivan Meštrović (1883-1962).
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The detail on the ceiling of the building.
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Relief carved into the exterior of the baptismal font.
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The baptismal font.
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One of two sarcophagi inside the building, in which are entombed two
of the Catholic Archbishops of Split.
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A close-up of the statue of Saint John the Baptist.
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Another carved relief panel on the baptismal font.
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The other sarcophagus.
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A carved head.
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One of the sphinxes outside of Jupiter's Temple.
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Next to Jupiter's Temple is the narrowest street in Split, also known as
the "Pusti me da prođem" ("Let Me Pass") street. It is only about 70 cm
wide, which is just enough for one adult to pass at a time.
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The Katedrala Sv. Duje (Cathedral of St. Domnius) is in the building that
was once the imperial Roman mausoleum. The bell tower is an old city
landmark.
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The street called Kraljice Jelene in front of the cathedral had a
sidewalk cafe.
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The main entrance to the cathedral was through these ancient Roman arches.
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For a small fee, you can climb the bell tower to get a great view of
the old town and the Adriatic Sea. This is the view from partway up
the climb.
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The bells are about halfway up the tower, where it is a stronger structure.
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The roof of the old mausoleum is built in the traditional Croatian style
with orange terracotta tiles.
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The view of the old city to the due north. Just in front of the row
of trees is the ancient palace wall.
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The view to the northeast.
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The view due east. The clump of trees in the foreground are in the
Stari Pazar (Old Market), just outside the ancient palace wall.
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The view to the southeast, including the main intercity bus station,
the Split train station, and the ferry terminal.
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The view due south. The building on the water is the
Hotel Marjan. There are two
islands in the distance. The one on the left is Otok Brač, and the
one on the right is Otok Šolta. Otok Brač is the largest
island in Dalmatia, with a population of 13,000. Otok Šolta is a
much smaller island with only a few fishing villages.
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The view to the southwest. The row of palm trees at the waterfront is the
Riva.
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The view due west. The large hill is Marjan Hill, at the center of a popular
city park.
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Another view of Marjan Hill, which is covered in a dense Mediterranean
pine forest.
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The view to the northwest. There are three yellow buildings in the left
center of this photograph. The one closest to the bell tower is
the building that our apartment was located in. The one second-farthest
away is the Hrvatska Narodno
Kazalište (National Theater of Croatia).
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The very top of the bell tower no longer supports bells.
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A view of the main harbor in front of the old city of Split. The two major
ferry companies are Jadrolinija
(domestic) and Blue Line
(international).
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The yellow building is the apartment building where we stayed in Split. Our
unit was on the second floor above ground and had windows on the opposite
side of the building from this view.
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Looking down at Kraljice Jelene.
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One of the bells in the tower. This one was forged in the year 1700 A.D.
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Two lion sculptures flank the main entrance to the cathedral.
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Some of the walls of the cathedral. Photography was not allowed inside.
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Immediately north of the ancient palace walls is a green space. It is
easy to see why the palace was chosen as the location to build a fortified
city.
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The Golden Gate in the north wall of Diocletian's Palace.
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More of the northern palace wall, near the Golden Gate entrance to the
old city.
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This cat was camped out near a convenient place for tourists to sit just
outside of the Golden Gate.
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I sat down to keep the cat company for a bit.
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This bell tower was next to a small Catholic chapel just outside of the
old city.
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This statue is of Grgur Ninski (Gregory of Nin), a medieval Catholic bishop
known for introducing the use of the Croatian language in religious services
in the year 926 A.D. The statue was sculpted by the famous Croatian sculptor
Ivan Meštrović (1883-1962), and was originally in the Peristil,
before being moved by the Italian occupation forces in World War II.
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Rubbing the toe of statue is reputed to bring good luck.
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It is a dramatic, larger than life statue.
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Remains of the old exterior city walls outside of the old city. This wall
was not part of Diocletian's Palace, but was added later.
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A fountain in a small park north of the Grgur Ninski statue.
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The Trg Republike, or Republic Square, on the western side of the Old Town.
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The Riva, lit up at night.
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Some of the shops on the Riva.
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Ancient Roman arches in the Peristil, with the entrance to the
Katedrala Sv. Duje (Cathedral of Saint Domnius) behind them.
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The cathedral bell tower, lit up at night.
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The wall of shops on the western side of the Peristil.
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Tourists sitting in the Peristil.
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The cathedral bell tower.
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The Katedrala Sv. Duje (Cathedral of Saint Domnius).
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One of the arched passageways in the old palace wall inside the old city.
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The Trg Narodni, or Pjaca (Piazza) at night.
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