Split

The Roman emperor Diocletian built his retirement Palace in Split at the turn of the fourth century AD. The structure is massive and more resembles a large fortress built upon Roman fortress architecture; square with four gates located at the midpoint of each wall. The seafront or southern half of it was for Diocletian's personal use, and the northern half housed the military garrison.The Palace is a living example of repurposing a structure. Built upon earlier Roman Imperial structures, it has been renovoated, rebuilt and altered many times in its history. In the Middle Ages the majority was a series of mansions owned by rich families. Today shops, restaurants and churches exist in the spaces that were once the Palace. Our 1 bedroom holiday apartment is within the Palace, in the north western quarter.

The first photo on the left is a column that is now located in a supermarket where a group of retained columns are now in front of the Deli section.Many shops are located in various sections of the Palace. The second photo shows shops located in what was the basement of the southern end of the Palace.

Near the the North Gate of Diocletian’s Palace is a towering statue. His pointed hat, topped with a small cross, gives a clue as to his identity. He is Gregory of Nin, a medieval Croatian bishop who is now considered a national hero.The statue was created by Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic in the mid 20th century.Also just out side the walls, this time on the East, there are a series of markets. Clothes, craft, souvenirs and fruit/veg of very high quality.

There are always some people who like to dress up, like these two guys at the north gate.On the tour I have noticed a large number of young ladies who like to dress down with holes in their jeans!

We used Jadrolinja ferry on a number of occasions; Bari to Dubrovnik, Korcula to Hvar (passenger cat), Stari Grad to Split.

Split is their major hub with a busy schedule of arrivals and departure, like this ferry we passed as we arrived into Split. I would rate there service as "good" to "very good". This is in Spite of our problem of missing one ferry due to them suddenly deciding to introduce their June schedule 5 days early without making it generally known.