Our Trip to Split, Croatia
I have wanted to go to Split for sometime to see the Emperor Diocletian’s retirement palace. I figured if an emperor is going to build a retirement palace anywhere in the Roman Empire, it is going to be the nicest location you could find. And I was not wrong in that thinking.
The Emperor’s Retirement Palace
Located on the Adriatic Sea the area has scenic coastlines with great beachs and clear blue water. There are rocky islands within site of the city that have picturesque villages and landscape.
The palace is located on the water overlooking the Adriatic Sea. It is built in marble and construction was finished in 310AD after 25,000 slaves laboured for 10 years.
Emperor Diocletian was the only Roman Emperor to actually retire, all the others died or were killed while still in power. He lived another 6 years after he retired and loved growing cabbages outside the palace grounds.
Diocletian’s palace is still in use today as it was 1700 years ago and 3000 people live within the palace grounds. It is a living museum.
The Peristyle
The Peristyle is the courtyard where people gathered to listen to Emperor Diocletian speak to them from his pulpit. It is still in use today, during the day by tourists, in particular those from the two cruise ships that docked each day for the week we were in Split.
Luxor Bar and Grill
At night, the Luxor Bar and Grill located right on the Peristyle has live music nightly starting at 7pm and going until 11pm. They place cushions on the tiered marble benches surrounding the Peristyle and provide seat side service. You pay for the privilege to sit in this historic place where thousands upon thousands of others have sat. Beer and wine is about 8⁄€ and gin and tonics are 17€ or just under $30 CAD. It is part of the experience. When it is raining, the music goes inside. One of the four times we went, it was inside and by 11pm it was a party happening with patrons up dancing to the live music.
Temple of Jupiter
From the Peristyle, you can step directly into the Temple of Jupiter, built for Emperor Diocletian, who was considered a living demigod and the son of Jupiter himself. The temple is small but striking, with massive stone blocks, a richly carved ceiling, and an original Roman sphinx brought from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. This was a sacred space where the emperor’s divine status was reinforced, and standing inside it, you can feel the power and symbolism the Romans intended. Over the centuries, the temple was later converted into a Christian baptistery, adding another layer of history to this remarkable building.
Diocletian’s Mausoleum
Across the Peristyle is Diocletian’s mausoleum, or was until a couple of hundred years after he was interred in his beautiful resting place, the Christians decided to take it over. They dragged his sarcophagus out and threw his remains in the sea. Once that was done they made it into a Catholic Church which it is still today. It is the oldest building in the world – in the world! – to have daily mass.
Behind the Cathedral on the sea side, are the remnants of his personal quarters with the outer walls still standing. Standing there you can imagine being back in 310 AD gazing out onto the water with islands in the background.
Split Museum
Turning around you will find the entrance to the Split museum that is free if you have a City Pass that you can get at the Tourist Information Office located at the bottom of the Peristyle. We enjoyed the museum. It is nicely laid out and we were the only people in it although there were hundreds of people just 30 feet away outside.
Emperor for a Moment
Coming out of the museum you enter the domed portico before standing on the podium looking at all the people below in the Peristyle. Closing your eyes, you can imagine what it was like to be the emperor if only for a moment.
Klapa
In the domed area, local Dalmatian singers sing throughout the day for tips. Called Klapa, meaning a group of friends, it is traditionally performed by a small group of five to eight amateur men singers. Singers typically stand in a tight semicircle to achieve the best blend of voices. The first tenor leads the singing, followed by others providing harmony with various tenor, baritone, and bass voices. This traditional form of a cappella multipart singing was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012.
The palace has two main roads, the one that continues straight out from the Peristyle and the one that crosses the bottom. Each direction taking you to one of the three gates. To the right is the gate that opens up onto the daily market.
The market sells flowers, vegetables, meat, and clothing. At the top of the market is a small supermarket, a butcher and a bakery. We love to have flowers in our apartment and we were able to buy our daily bread and other things at the market.
The Palace Grounds
Within the Palace Grounds there are also two other small supermarkets and a fish market where we picked up other items for our dinners. We ate five dinners in our apartment and two out. The first dinner out was our first night. It was late, after 10pm and luckily one of the restaurants kitchen was open until 11pm. We had a great pizza and salad along with wine. It was so delicious after travelling for over 20 hours. Sitting on the main square watching the people go by, and taking it all in and toasting to our new adventure.
The second dinner was in a boutique hotel with a wonderful dining room. We were the only patrons, being at the end of the season, and the food and service were wonderful. I love being able to order fresh fish properly prepared it was so delicious.
Our Apartment
Our apartment was just between the main square and the Peristyle. It was so central and convenient to everything. Located on the third floor, the apartment had recently been remodelled with polished cement floors, new cabinetry, stone counter tops and a brand new bathroom. There was a small balcony off the bedroom looking down the lane that was very medieval in appearance.
The place is owned by a local Croatian and her dad picked us up at the airport, helped carry our luggage, took us to the apartment and went over all the features. On the drive from the airport, he gave us a brief history of Split and what it is today.
What to Do in Split, Croatia
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the local people moved into the palace grounds for protection from the roaming bands of killers. Over time they build medieval buildings within the palace grounds for homes and shops and creating a maze of lanes that is one of the highlights of Split. Wandering the maze, discovering hidden gems and shops that do not show up on Google Maps. In fact there are so many restaurants and bars that Google can not keep up with them.
Our rent included breakfast at a restaurant about a 15 minute walk from the apartment, you think she could have made arrangements with one a bit closer. Eating at the same restaurant for a week with a very limited menu got a bit challenging coming up with something non-repetitive. It was a very small ‘healthy’ restaurant with smoothies, granola, bagels, spelt pancakes and scrambled eggs. And of course Italian coffees and fresh juice.
The Riva
Along the seaside on the west side of the palace walls is the Riva which is the huge promenade full of restaurants. The prices here are more expensive than going to the east side of the palace grounds where the local people eat and drink. The prices there are in some cases are less than half the price of food and drink on the Riva or in the palace grounds.
The Riva continues to the north that takes you past new condo construction to the major park which has great views of Split. Carrying on, there are a number of sandy beaches that are separated by rock outcrops. The sea walk goes on for several kilometres passing lovely beaches and eventually you will come to a naturalist beach. There are local buses and Uber you can take to and from the beaches.
Going south of the Riva will take you past the ferry and cruise ship terminals before you get to a small park then the sea walk takes you past a large sandy beach and several seaside bars where you can stop for a refreshment. The week we were there a US aircraft carrier was anchored about a kilometre off shore.
Walking in Split, Croatia
We found it easy to walk around Split. Much of the city is east of the old town area. We went through that area a couple of times. Uber is available and one day we took an Uber to the ruins east of Split that was a major Roman city and where Emperor Diocletian was born and raised. Of course it was destroyed by the Vandals, Goths and others like them that liked to sack, loot and destroy Roman cities after the Empire collapsed.
Island Ferries
One of the major things to do in Split is to take ferries to the neighbouring islands with beautiful rocky beaches and quaint villages. Unfortunately, when we were there, the weather had turned with the temperatures nice for walking but not for swimming and there was several days that there was light rain through out the day with overcast skies. The small boat companies with very limited sailings and they were closing up for the season so we did not get to the islands.
Krka National Park
We did take a bus tour to the Krka National park. Again most of the tour companies had closed for the season, in fact only Grey Bus Tours was operating the day we wanted to go. Tickets were about $27 each which we thought was a very good price for an hour bus ride to the park, admission to the park, and return after four hours at the park.
The drive to the park is through Mediterranean scrub, dry rocky terrain with scrub vegetation until you get to the park and then it changes to pine tree forest. The bus stops at the top of the boardwalk that meanders down around and through the cascading water. Being the shoulder season it was not too crowded but during the months of June to September it would be shoulder to shoulder people on the narrow boardwalk. We hit a couple of bottlenecks where guides were showing their 30 people something of interest. The tour group filled the entire boardwalk and there was no going around so you just had to wait until they were finished.
The cascading waterfalls are something to see. They are very picturesque with lots of spots to get wonderful pictures and video. At the bottom the boardwalk is a flat area with toilets, souvenir shops and quick food kiosks. Here is where you catch a small two deck boat that carries about 70 people down the river to a small village where you have a couple of hours to explore or have lunch in one of the many restaurants either along the small marina or in the interior of the village.
Boat Ride
While riding the boat on the top deck we saw an English guy with a cloth duck sticker on his phone. We knew where he had been to get that duck, so we asked him if he had been to the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. He said that he had been there a few months prior, we struck up a conversation and told him that we had been there in March and had watched the daily duck walk as well and duck master hands out the cloth duck sticker to a few people in the crowd.
As we rode along the river, there was a timed car race going on with very loud smaller cars roaring and shifting gears through the windy road that ran along the river. When we got to the village a huge parking lot was taken over with dozens of race cars and tents for the crews.
We walked through the village, but being a Sunday at the end of the season, most everything was closed so we took a seat at an outdoor restaurant at the marina. We had a light lunch there and the prices were reasonable and the food was good.
While we sat there, an elderly gentleman hobbled down the street and took a seat at the next table. It turned out that he as 103 years old and came everyday for his coffee. We asked the server if we could pay for his coffee, he told the man that we paid for his coffee and he was so pleased. We shook his hand and exchanged pleasantries as we left the restaurant to catch the bus back to Split.
Our Thoughts on Split, Croatia
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Split. We stayed for a week, but three of those days we had planned on going to the islands for day excursions; without the islands, four days was enough to see and experience Split.
Like many places in Europe, mass tourism has gotten out of hand. Many of the accommodations are now owned by investors rather than locals and it is a big concern. During the busy season it is wall to wall people with everyone just wandering aimlessly taking pictures.
I would say the best time to visit Split would be in late May or early June or late September. We went in mid October because of family commitments at home otherwise we would have gone in late September. The crowds would be a little less then summer but much more than we were there. The weather is warm and pleasant then and if you have more time, it would be wonderful to take a 3 or 4 day sailing holiday through the many islands.