Today I had to say goodbye to the great apartment, the wonderful views, and the friggin steps.
I’m on my way to my next main stop, Split. Split is the second largest city in Croatia, and the largest city in Dalmatia.
Dalmatia
My brother is secretly hoping I’ll tell you what Dalmatia is. (That’s not true. My brother is currently picturing the cover of 101 Dalmatians, and wondering how long this post is going to be. Joke’s on him – Dalmatians did come from Dalmatia!) The short version is there are four historical regions of Croatia. They’re not legal…but they are very emotional. I was in a conference recently and they added Toronto in as part of the Midwest. I think the regions are the same – they’re not legally defined, but if someone from outside the area makes a wrong assessment, blood may be shed.
The Journey
It was a nice drive – incredibly scenic, with a great stop in Makarska for lunch (though we did cut through Bosnia so I could go to a post office in Neum.)
It started a little intensely though, with the driver asking me “what are you doing with your life?” – I had not had enough coffee for that kind of conversation, but it turns out he was just asking me what my job is.
The story I was told today was that early in the 1950’s, there was a big communist meeting in the area. Everyone was drunk, and the Bosnian leader was complaining to the Croatian leader that they had no sea access…and the Croatian leader offered up Neum to make him happy.
I also learned that the Romans had stations along the coast, in a line similar to our drive; they created a system of mirrors in the daytime, and fires at night, to communicate. Within 40 minutes of a Turkish ship entering this part of the sea (for attack against Rome), Rome knew and could begin preparing. By land, that communication would have taken a full week.
We also stopped at a roadside Catholic Church, just for fun. They were having a service, and I was very uncomfortable, but the driver said not to worry – they were just Polish, so did not really matter.
And then, into Split! I’ll be staying here until Saturday.
Gregory of Nan
A statue of him is just outside of the Old Town (sort of.) He was before his time; he lobbied the church to allow service to be in Croatian instead of Latin, so all could participate – 500 years before Martin Luther did the same thing. This statue was made for him in 1928…but the artist used his own face, not Gergory’s.
Diocletian’s Palace
Diocletian was a Roman emperor (the first, and only, to abdicate voluntarily), and he directed construction to start in the year 295. No, I did not miss a number when I typed that. History in the rest of the world is very old. For reference, Columbus (did not) discover America in 1492.
He was an interesting ruler. He was actually born the child of freed slaves, and worked his way up through the military. He created a governing system in the region; instead of being the only emperor, he created 3 additional positions, and split the region into east and west. He was still the most supreme, and he hired his three friends for the other roles – but it was still an interesting breaking up of power.
Construction lasted 10 years. Diocletian spared no expense, importing marble from Italy and Greece, and columns and 12 sphinxes from Egypt. He actually had to go to Egypt for a smack-down because the locals were out of control, and after he squashed the rebellion, he took the sphinxes back as spoils for the victor. One of the sphinxes is still on display – and it is very rare, with human hands.
The main white stone is from the nearby island of Brač (I visit there tomorrow). The palace was listed by UNESCO in 1979 as a World Heritage Site.
So, this thing is about 1/2 of the area that is now referred to as Old Town. It’s actually less of what you might think when you picture a palace, and more of a walled city. It exists now as a bit of a labyrinth, with cool side streets full of cafes and shops to discover.
The original palace had four main walls, each with a gate at its center that’s named after a metal: the northern Golden gate (where only the emperor could go), the southern Bronze, the eastern Silver (for servants and visitors), and the western Iron (which was the gate for the military).
The Bronze gate opened straight from the water into the palace basement, so they could unload things directly from ships. This is now the main entrance to the harbor.
Catholic Cathedral of Saint Domnius
This is one of the best-preserved ancient Roman buildings still standing today. It was built as a mausoleum for Diocletian. The building is still surrounded by the original 24 columns. Now, Diocletian did some good things, but also did some bad things – including killing a lot of Christians. They eventually converted his mausoleum into the church – and they threw his body into the sea. Since they converted the building into a church, it is also believed that this is the oldest Cathedral in the world.
There is also a tall bell tower, which was built around the 14th century and reconstructed in 1908 after it collapsed. Just picture a bunch of old men at a cafe in 1907, complaining about how they didn’t build things to last anymore. The original Bell Tower actually took 300 years to build, which is why if you look at it, there are three distinct styles of architecture.
You have to pay to climb the Bell Tower. Now I’m reminiscing about all those steps in Dubrovnik – which they let me climb for free!
War Impact
Because of Split’s location, it was not impacted substantially during the Homeland War – they were too far away from Serbia for a land war. The Bosnian Navy did attack a bit – specifically, the ship that attacked was actually named during the Yugoslavia days, and was named Destroyer Split. After the war, they now call it Destroyer of Split (though only two people were killed from its attacks).
Riva Harbour (Or The Riva, as the cool kids call it)
This is a promenade that runs between the sea and the Palace. Lots of cafes and nice shade, and the best place for people-watching in the city, I’m told. I’m also told that to truly enjoy Dalmatia, I need to behave like a Dalmatian – which means that to drink a cup of coffee, it must take me an hour. Two coffees, two hours. You get the idea.
Next Apartment
Another patio! The sea view is lovely. The area I’m staying in is just a regular area of the city, no where near as charming as the last place (which I knew going in). The old town is about a 30 minute walk.
