Split Stories

“Not all those who wander are lost.” J.R.R. Tolkein

After five days in the perpetually hot and sunny Split it was time to say goodbye. Split is a relaxed, happy city with a fairly small population of 200,000 but each year more than four million tourists visit. Nearly everyone speaks English, it’s cheap, friendly, has good weather, the azure blue Adriatic Sea, an abundance of restaurants with good food,  good wine, it’s small enough to walk around the historic centre, which is like a movie set, and there’s enough shopping to satisfy anyone. No wonder tourism is the backbone of the economy.

A tourist train took us up the Marjan Hill for stunning views over the city.

Each day we had wandered the narrow maze like alleys of Split’s main town which is mostly within the ancient Roman Diocletian’s Palace. 

The Palace was built by the Roman Emporer Diocletian as a retirement home in 305 AD, he was the only emporer to retire – and certainly picked a prime spot to do so. 

After the Romans left, locals moved in and built inside the walls, today the Palace s a living breathing community where people live and work, there are shops, houses and restaurants within the walls. 

It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage site and there are shops with floor tiles 2000 years old and banks with Roman columns inside. It’s the ultimate living museum. 

On our last evening in Split we took a walking tour around the streets within the palace where we had been wandering and getting lost. So many fascinating facts… Diocletian saw himself as a living god and dedicated much of the palace to Jupiter , he had also brought back souvenirs from his time in a Egypt – like this Sphinx, already 2000 years old when he decided to give it a new home.

Much of the palace has been used as set for Game of Thrones – all the shops and restaurants were closed down for filming and shop owners were paid to stay home and not work ! The subterranean chambers (basement) of the palace- are the home of Daenery’s dragons.