A short photographic walk through Split, Croatia, on the Dalmatian Coast of the Adriatic Sea
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| Relief of a Knight |
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| Depiction of maltreatment of a local martyr |
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| Mary and her newborn, with ox and mule standing by, and Josef wondering how that could have happened... |
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| Another victim...this one is ready to be thrown into the river, and sure not to surface again |
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| Interior of Diocletan's palace, yet to be restored |
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| Palace Cat |
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| Finally - a true blue blooded Dalmatian |
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| Silicone as per Croatia |
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| One of the many plazas of Split |
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| Fresh seafood in open air restaurants |
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| Grgur Ninski |
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| And here he is again...I think he was a very influential Bishop of the city |
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| 24 hour clock, still working after centuries |
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| Dalmatian Market Lady |
Who would have thought that the lowly broom, a cursed weed in British Columbia, is the name sake of Split. The name originates from the Greek word Aspalathos, which would shortened to Split, and it means broom. Spring in Split is a burst of flowering bloom.
It first made a permanent mark on the Dalmatian map, when Emperor Caius Verlerius Aurelius Diocletianus (just plain Emperor Diocletian to his closest friends) built a summer palace on the Bay of Aspalathos between 284 and 305 AD. The good emperor abdicated in 305 and died in 313, hardly mourned by anybody. Diocletian was most famous for torturing Christians, a word synonymous to martyr in his days, at least until the new faith was legalized under Roman Rule.
Diocletian's Palace is standing to this day, with a number of 'enhancements' and a few derelict ruins. However, the entire 'basement' is now a market open to the public, a cathedral occupies the place of a Roman temple within the palace enclosing walls, museums abound, and local musicians take advantage of the superb acoustics to play classical music for pedestrians.
As many European countries, Split was governed by a long series of rulers, Croatians, Byzantine emperors, a short autonomy, then the Venetians conquered it in 1420. Fortress walls attempted to protect it against Turks in the 17th century, and the Austrians ruled from 1797 to 1918. WWI and Sarajevo did it's thing, WWII and Tito and Yugoslavia did theirs, and Croatian recession and Serbian/Bosnian wars bring us into the 20th century.
To give an idea of Diocletian's palace's size, today there are around 220 buildings and 3000 permanent residents within it's outer limits.
As a bit of trivia: a Croatian dozen eggs consist of merely 10 eggs.
There were a lot of dogs around, but I did see one Dalmatian.
Croatian mothers warn their children not to sit on concrete, as it will ruin their kidneys.
Their sons have to wear a cravat (necktie in English, cravat in French), which is named for the word Croat, Croatian citizen.
