Time to Split
Day 8 in Croatia: Spalato (aka Split or "Little Palace")
The next day we woke up early to catch our ferry to Split, the second largest city in Croatia. From the Split entry in the Lonely Planet, we weren't expecting much, but were very keen and eager to check out (Roman Emperor) Diocletian's Palace, which is now a Unesco World Heritage site. It's made from Greek and Italian marble and also features columns and sphinxes from Egypt (did this guy have taste or what?).
Following the LP walking tour, we started off at the Grgur Ninski (Gregorius of Nin) statue. He's the famous Croatian bishop who fought to have church services conducted in old Croatian. This statue is another masterwork from Ivan Meštrović and depicts Gregorius as a giant-sized wizard.
It is said that rubbing Gregorius' big left toe brings one good luck.
You can see how shiny and light-coloured it is compared with the rest of him! That's a lot of luck!
Expecto Patronum!
Once again we were foiled by the local Renovation Rescue team. The Palace has four gates named after metals: Golden, Silver, Bronze and Iron. But the Golden Gate was currently covered up. So, we made our way in anyway checking out the weird little old city with its funky architecture, gargoyles and the bits and pieces of the Golden Gate that had been brought down and stored for safety.
This is the tower of the Katedrale Svetlog Duje (Cathedral of St Domnius).
A sphinx near the entrance to the cathedral.
Roman columns on the side of the cathedral.
More photos of the cathedral.
A headless sphinx in front of the Temple of Jupiter.
Inside the Temple...
The Peristyle (ceremonial entrance court) and Protiron (entrance into the imperial quarters). The boys in polo shirts sitting on the steps on the extreme left are a Croatian boy band. Also note the Roman soldiers on the right and the Angel in the middle on the ground.
We then went straight through the crowd and downstairs through the permanent underground market to conclude our tour of Diocletian's Palace by exploring the Basement Halls underneath the Palace.
Along with his impressive collection of Egyptian artefacts, Diocletian was also an avid collector of Chinese statues.
After completing the Basement Halls, we went to Galija for some excellent pizza.
Split Harbour
We also checked out Bačvice, which is apparently the top party beach in Split. Seemed like a concrete beach but it was still nice. We'd left our swimmers and towels in our bags at the Garderoba so couldn't have a dip but it would have been nice as it was freaking hot.
We then had to make our way to the airport to fly back to London. Here's our final view of Split.
The next day we woke up early to catch our ferry to Split, the second largest city in Croatia. From the Split entry in the Lonely Planet, we weren't expecting much, but were very keen and eager to check out (Roman Emperor) Diocletian's Palace, which is now a Unesco World Heritage site. It's made from Greek and Italian marble and also features columns and sphinxes from Egypt (did this guy have taste or what?).
Following the LP walking tour, we started off at the Grgur Ninski (Gregorius of Nin) statue. He's the famous Croatian bishop who fought to have church services conducted in old Croatian. This statue is another masterwork from Ivan Meštrović and depicts Gregorius as a giant-sized wizard.
It is said that rubbing Gregorius' big left toe brings one good luck.
You can see how shiny and light-coloured it is compared with the rest of him! That's a lot of luck!
Expecto Patronum!
Once again we were foiled by the local Renovation Rescue team. The Palace has four gates named after metals: Golden, Silver, Bronze and Iron. But the Golden Gate was currently covered up. So, we made our way in anyway checking out the weird little old city with its funky architecture, gargoyles and the bits and pieces of the Golden Gate that had been brought down and stored for safety.
This is the tower of the Katedrale Svetlog Duje (Cathedral of St Domnius).
A sphinx near the entrance to the cathedral.
Roman columns on the side of the cathedral.
More photos of the cathedral.
A headless sphinx in front of the Temple of Jupiter.
Inside the Temple...
The Peristyle (ceremonial entrance court) and Protiron (entrance into the imperial quarters). The boys in polo shirts sitting on the steps on the extreme left are a Croatian boy band. Also note the Roman soldiers on the right and the Angel in the middle on the ground.
We then went straight through the crowd and downstairs through the permanent underground market to conclude our tour of Diocletian's Palace by exploring the Basement Halls underneath the Palace.
Along with his impressive collection of Egyptian artefacts, Diocletian was also an avid collector of Chinese statues.
After completing the Basement Halls, we went to Galija for some excellent pizza.
Split Harbour
We also checked out Bačvice, which is apparently the top party beach in Split. Seemed like a concrete beach but it was still nice. We'd left our swimmers and towels in our bags at the Garderoba so couldn't have a dip but it would have been nice as it was freaking hot.
We then had to make our way to the airport to fly back to London. Here's our final view of Split.
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11:10 PM
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