Split as in Croatia... Our trip originally had us docking in Split but dock construction dictated otherwise. So the MS Diamond docked beyond the city and bussed us back to Split where we did just that- SPLIT, bid our boatmates a quick farewell as we all went our separate ways.
The Happy Bookers checked our luggage in at a tiny storage place meters from where we had been dropped off. The fee was well worth it since we had a city tour booked for early afternoon. Who wants to lug luggage? LOL . Good thing too as wet weather finally caught us during the day...
This was the only day in our journey we would be plagued by rain. And the heavens let loose with a vengeance... We found refuge under a large plaza canopy for the boardwalk restaurants.
The rain eventually lifted, and we found a nice restaurant to dry off and have an early lunch.
We had some time and since one of us didn't have rain gear, we went to the closest tourist shop to buy an umbrella. Unfortunately, there weren't any so the shopkeeper offered his. The Croatians are soooo nice!
Finding our way back to return it after all the narrow walkways would provide a challenge...
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| Dr. Martino |
Prof Martino would be our guide through the old town of Split which has been a UNESCO site since '79.
Split started as a Greek colony in 3rd/ 4th C, then the Romans arrived. Emperor Diocletian built his massive retirement palace there. In the 7 th C, refugees from Salona moved inside its walls after their town was destroyed.
The city has remnants of Byzantine, Croatian, Venetian, and Austrian hands before becoming part of Yugoslavia and then gaining its independence as Croatia in 1991.
Today ~3000 people are still there, and the emperor's mausoleum now is the Cathedral of St Dominus and the basement halls have turned into bars and shops. We witnessed a couple of wedding parties too!
Magnificent architecture surrounds one... the pics can talk for themselves.
Historic craftmanship abounds... doors, gateways, creches, tile eo embellishments,
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| metal doors |
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| intricate tile work |
Even though we stayed dry in the basement, we weren't so happy when we learned its history... the dungeon was where all the dung literally was dumped. All of it had to be shovelled out when the space was repurposed in later centuries...
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| Gregory of Nin |
10th C Bishop Grgur Ninski in Croatian fought to use local language in services instead of Latin. People rub his toe for good luck!
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| Statue by Ivan Meštrović |
Big hugs to my Wisconsin buddy who went online to arrange this tour after discovering the ship couldn't stop here.
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