Split – Day 12 – House Crashing Diocletian

Photo above is the ceiling of Venus’ Temple in Diocletian’s Palace

When originally considering Croatia for a vacation destination, there were a few landmarks that helped seal the deal: the Pula Coliseum, Zlatni Rat, and today’s destination, Diocletian’s Palace. Plus, one more major attraction for tomorrow’s drive: Plitvice Lakes National Park.

Diocletian, born near Split, was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305 A.D. and was the only emperor to abdicate the throne. He oversaw the Diocletianic Persecution, which was the longest and bloodiest persecution of Christians in order to force compliance with Roman religious practices. Some estimates suggest that up to 3,500 Christians were martyred in this campaign. It’s possible that the Pula Coliseum that we visited earlier this week may have been the scene for some of these martyrs.

Diocletian’s palace in Split was constructed during his reign and became his retirement home after his abdication. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the palace remained empty until the locals began inhabiting its confines, which continues to this day. Integrated within the rooms, walls and facades are shops, apartments, and hotels.

Knowing we could only see a portion of the palace in a day, we breached the city walls by late morning after a coffee in a courtyard cafe in Omiš. Isn’t that to whom Rome fell? Over-caffeinated slackers?

Vendors of every kind greet the visitor inside the Palace walls, which adds an open air marketplace feel to the environment. Close to our approach from a southern gateway, we encountered another bell tower. Though we wouldn’t know it from our Dalmatian tour, the advent of the alarm clock put a few certain bell makers in the unemployment line at some point. We haven’t met a bell tower we didn’t like and being experts now, Tate, Claire, Grant and I bought a ticket for entry. This one was too treacherous for Mae, and Molli has realized that high places with open views to the ground can be less fun than it sounds.

Sections of very steep stone steps that are only wide enough for one person to pass create the initial entry. Higher up, similar to the Rovinj bell tower, quarter sections lead to the top, although the stairs are metal and not cracking wood. But for the thrill seeker, this is a decent fix. Although there is an iron hand rail, the tower has large arch openings on its walls that would allow the right combination of a slip and fall to send a tower climber to the stone plaza below. So, I told the kids to use both hands. We gripped it tight.

From the modern construction on the ground and enormous cruise ships in the Split harbor to the aging crumbling walls and Romanesque archways, we had an architectural view that spanned a couple of millennia.

Lunch was on the steps of a plaza near the tower. While we ate Molli kept saying, “Just think, Diocletian walked right here!” Before we moved on we learned that our lunch place had originally been a temple to the goddess, Venus.

A small wedge between some nearby buildings led to the pagan Temple of Jupiter. Several centuries later, Croatians transformed this small building into a baptistry with a large baptismal font. Inside, there stands a statue of John the Baptist. We watched the PBS series on Croatia by Rick Steves. In one episode, he visits the same temple. Claire kept saying with sarcasm, “Rick Steves was right here!”

Moving along, we went underground. About 20 steps down some stairs led to the part of the lower section of the palace that is open to visitors. We took the uncrowded tour which gave a sense of the enormity of the palace walls and construction. We were told that the basement floor we were touring was duplicated in the same scale on the level immediately above our heads.

By this time we were ready to take a break and the prior day’s beach experience was still too good to forget. And calling us to repeat. So, we drove the 15 kilometers back to Omiš and added about 10 km more to discover an empty section of rocky beach. With the sun beginning to creep toward the horizon, we took the plunge. This would be our last chance to swim in this crystal clear water of the Adriatic – sun setting or not. Molli didn’t get to properly heat her blood, so she squandered a good fifteen minutes with, “Okay, I’m going to jump in right now! Okay, now. Okay, now.” You get the idea. She did. Finally. For a little underwater video taken by Tate in the cove, click here.

The late swim led a to a late dinner, but that was to be expected. Each night in Omiš, we ate in the same square. Two restauruants are there and we tried them both. Twice. When on vacation almost everything is new. But it’s nice to occasionally have something familar to serve as a grounding. This restaurant square became a place to revisit the day’s events and to plan the ones to follow. It’s where we met Marco and his family a few nights earlier as well as Vjeko, our waiter at Vagabundo.

Vjeko was kind and comfortable with giving us local tips that we would not have otherwise known. Like the beach we visited today. He had suggested the area the previous night and it was a memorable place for us.

With this being our last night in Croatia, the calls for “one more day” started echoing from the kids. Molli and I feel the same.