SUMMER TRIP #6: SPLIT, Croatia

After Sibenik, I headed towards Split, the last part of my Croatian adventure, from where I would take a flight to Rome and then back to Spain.

Split is everything you heard about it: an exciting and thriving coastal city invaded by tourists all summer long, which makes even walking into the narrow streets of the city center very difficult and frustrating at times.

                                  

                                       

The fact is that the story and birth of Split can be traced to one and one man only: Diocletian, the Roman emperor, who hailed from the region and loved the place so much that he built there a palace to himself (see the drawing below). 

                          

                                    

 

After his death, and during the subsequent upheavals suffered by the Empire, folks from all other the region huddled around the fortified palace and the palace became the city center of what is now the city of Split.

So basically, all the "old town" is the old palace of Diocletian, where you'll find his mausoleum and you can also enjoy a lot of tiny details, like this statue from egypt used to decorate that house:

                              

One of the landmark is of course the belltower of Saint-Domnius cathedral: 

                                   

But this was was added only later (XIIth century). Climbing it is highly recommended and gives an amazing view of the whole region:

I spent only one night in Split and frankly, in July, it's more than enough due to the crowds... So, in the morning of July 28th, I took the shuttle to Split's airport and said goodbye to Croatia. 

                                                        

But before to come back to Spain, I had one last rendez-vous with Rome, and this time I really expected to make the most of it!

To be continued