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It looks like the weather forecasters were right (overcast, a bit of rain and a bit windy) so we were very pleased that there was no day cruise for us out to the islands and visiting the caves. So we had a leisurely start then kicked off the 'outside world' day with a coffee in our local cafe - which is only several steps outside the alleyway to the bottom of our stairs.
But it was not to be a boring morning as we had signed up to a Split walking tour and headed off to meet our guide Darko (a charming young Croatian who was a history teacher in another life and who was also an excellent guide). Our tour focused on the Diocletian's Palace which is an ancient palace built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD, which today forms about half the old town and city center of Split. While it is referred to as a "palace" because of its intended use as Diocletian's retirement, the term can be misleading as the structure is massive and more resembles a large fortress: about half of it was for Diocletian's personal use, and the rest housed the military garrison and churches.
Dioceletian retired from his role as Roman Emperor in 305, on the south side of a short peninsula running out from the Dalmatian coast, which is four miles from Salona, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. Interestingly, he was born in Split, came from humble beginnings and served as a soldier before his career moves to the top role of Emperor. As he had plenty of money he invested heavily in his retirement home (if only we were all so lucky) and was determined to spend a pleasant retirement looking after his garden (and palace).
Essentially the 100m + square palace with 16 towers was divided roughly into 3.
1.The side facing away from the coast (to the north, as Split is on a peninsula and faces south, which explains the confusion I felt when I thought that the sun had set in the wrong direction) with the Golden Gate (which has been laser cleaned in recent years, as has other bits of the palace that remain), which is the 'main gate' (see attached a pic of a poster that explains the structure of the Gold and Silver gates - look for the bit in English or whatever language suits), and which has an area inside it which prevented direct access to the city (to check that visitors were legit, or spear them I guess). This 1/3 housed soldiers and servant quarters, and factories. One product was fine cloth, including some purple, which was the Royal colour which took enormous amounts of water (due to the complex process involving soaking the cloth in urine). This is why Diocletian's construction projects included a massive aqueduct which has been restored and which brings water to the city today,
2. The middle section had 3 temples, one in which Diocletian's body was interred when he died back in 313 (or so), but later when the Christians took revenge for all the terrible things he did to their forebears they chucked his bones into the sea. More recently the foundations of 2 more temples have been found, ones specifically for two goddesses (fertility + another - my notes are inadequate). I pause here to note that while Diocletian's palace was built over some earlier Roman foundations, much of what he built, and indeed his own history was destroyed by subsequent medieval residents and more contemporary residents. Thus there is a lot of archeological activity going on and much is being learnt continually about Diocletian's life and palace, and the intervening period.
3. Diocletian's living areas were at the side of the palace nearest the sea the south). This is an area that was double story, with the lower level (including foundations) an exact copy of the top one. This area was filled with waste from the Middle Ages and has only recently been excavated. Also more recently, some of the original Roman construction has been unearthed and restored, including a courtyard in which a short battle / fight scene in Game of Thrones was filmed. Drako said the local community were excited when a local fellow was cast to play a small part in this, however when the episode was shown the part was simply to have his throat cut in the first 3 seconds.... And that was all (pic of the courtyard attached, notable for its Roman construction (at the basement level) as well as its GoT fame!
I won't go on and on about the palace because you have either been here (and are finding it boring), you can find the detail on Wikipaedia or you will be inspired to visit soon. However, other interesting points from my notes are:
The face on the statue of Grgor that I mentioned yesterday (often referred to as a wizard - the one with the golden toe) is that of Ivan Mestrovic ('the most powerful European sculptor in the first half of the 20th century who grew up near Split) who once he left Croatia, put his own face on statues of others all over the world, including a monument to the Indians at Central Park, Chicago.
The construction of the palace is large sandstone blocks from a nearby island reinforced by iron rods that are cemented in) and is such that it is thought to be earthquake proof, which is great as the area is subject to movement as the coast is sinking on its tectonic plate. And in fact the coast is 1.7 m lower than in Diocletian's time.
The only Vehicles in the city are cute little carts (see pic) which operate at death defying speed around the city. The carts have a fellow (women are too sensible to do this) standing on the front (usually he is facing forward acting the living buffer in case of hitting anything) with a foot on the accelerator and steering with 2 levers. I am happy to explain / demonstrate but wine would be needed.
The main square in the centre (see pic of square and one of me with the Sphinx) was a key part in Diocletian's time, but more recently set a Guinness world record for the largest block of chocolate (across the square), which was eaten in 10 mins, and is the site of many protests.
The 18th century Scottish architect Robert Adam prepared details of Diocletian's palace, which were the used to build the Adelphi Palace on the Thames. (That was what our guide said, but Wicki says what he saw in Split influenced jp his design of the Adelphi Buildings - many now destroyed.
Diocletian's buildings include decorative designs to support his interest in incorporating symbolism from various religions etc, including swastikas ( from Hindu originally meaning good luck) and another design based on a soldier's game using dice made from the knuckle bones of animals - called (something....name lost in my notes. Sorry but I can explain .. With red wine).
Diocletian's 2 main cross streets were designed to be wide enough for soldiers to walk along 10 abreast and are called 'decomanus, which we walked on slipping quite a few times was (as they are worn smooth from '1700 years of sandals' - amazing thought that, particularly given Australia's 'enduring buildings' history is only several hundred years).
One chamber that is a recently restored vestibule for Diocletian's, had an appellate group singing traditional Dalmatian songs (see pic). I bought the CD for us to enjoy in the car (better than what we have been listening to).
Our guide (lightheartedly) made many references to Croatia's best everything - climate, food, diet, geography etc, and encouraged people to visit / come and live here, especially if they are interested in archeology / history as the population is about 3 million, and dropping. Something to think about - there are plenty of nice rides here!
After a light lunch I returned to the Museum in the underground area close to the sea front and and continued to be amazed at the construction that many hundreds of years ago. See pics but I won't go on any more about my fascination with the buildings / history.. I know it sounds very busy but be comforted that I followed up the museum with coffee and a beer in a nearby restaurant to refuel, before meeting JJ 'at home' for our usual pre- dinner drink.
We then set out to a restaurant recommended by our landlord (yes, the cute one). Fyfe, described as 'serving traditional Dalmatian food on a budget' lived up to our expectations - particularly as the excellent food was accompanied by very reasonably priced wine. As a popular meeting place for locals (and, we hear backpackers) the food had expectations to live up to and it both buzzed and delivered great fish and an interesting dish of mixed greens (sort of spinach and potato + ?). With two fish apiece my bream and JJ's sea bass saw us reach our eating capacity very easily. Notable was the friendly waiter, who offered to take us partying with his friends later, but not tonight. Pic attached revealing his very friendly persona.
From there we went to the central courtyard of the palace ( see above) but with pricy drinks and the singer doing Simon and Garfunkel songs not that well, we didn't hang around too long.
So back 'home', a blog to finish and crawl into bed after another fascinating, enjoyable, bit soggy and lots of fun day. It's a shame you aren't all here too!
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