Split ~ Palaces, Wedding Anniversary & Incredible Biking

 Split ~ Palaces, Wedding Anniversary & Incredible Biking 

The next morning we take a 2-hour ferry to Split, a shipbuilding city sitting on a peninsula and the 2^nd largest city in Croatia (population 178,000). At the top of the city harbor is the Old Town made up of Diocletian’s Palace on one side and a medieval town with a maze of streets next door. 

Judita Palace

We check into the Judita Palace, a lovely small hotel situated in the center of Old Town. Our rooms are amazing, unique and the staff extremely helpful.  

We have lunch at Kanoba Marna, a small hole in the wall restaurant with 5 tables. The waiter starts by showing us a platter of the various fish available that were caught that day. John chooses dogfish and Seth sea bass while Laura and I share shrimp and salad. 

Next we meet Lana who takes us on a 2 ½ hour tour of Emperor Diocletian’s Palace, a fourth century Roman ruins.

Roman Emperor Diocletian

 Diocletian was born in this area when it was part of the Roman empire and rose to become the Roman Emperor. He built an enormous waterfront palace as his retirement home.  

Lana shows us map of palace as it used to be

The most interesting part is the labyrinth of mostly intact cellars that supported the palace. We admire the amazing stonework and circular brickwork. 

Peristyle Square

Above this is the Peristyle square and Mausoleum where Diocletian was originally buried. 



There are amazing red granite pillars and black sphinx from Egypt collected by Diocletian in his retirement years. We run into cappella singers, who are outstanding. 

We enter Diocletian’s mausoleum which was later converted to the Cathedral of St. Dominus, an octagonal structure. Interesting transformation for Diocletian who had a legacy of torturing and executing Christians.

Inside Mausoleum

Rubbing the toe and making a wish

There are pictures to be taken everywhere ~ one turns around and
sees something else to try to capture in one's memory.

Cardiac Lane

Anniversary Dinner
Dinner that night is our 43^rd wedding anniversary and we eat at the Dvor Restaurant outside along side the Adriatic Sea with another amazing view. 

The sun sets and I wonder how it is that 43 years could possibly have passed by so quickly ~ but our life is but a speck in the history of this land. Afterwards we walk through the Peristyle Square, which is all lit up, and musicians are playing.  We dance for a while and arrive home to find that Seth and Laura have put a bottle of champagne, beautiful orchids and a bouquet of chocolate in our room.  Who could ask for a better day?

Biking Dalmatian Hinterland

The next morning at 9:30 we meet our guide, Dom, for a bike tour of the nearby mountains. After taking a jeep ride to the top of the hills we are given great mountain bikes. We bike down hillsides enjoying the fields, landscapes and views. I was a little worried about my biking skills and especially the speed of going downhill but our guide coaches me to go slowly and keep to the side of the road.  He seems confident in my ability despite the fact I am wearing entirely wrong shoes for this activity (Birkenstock sandals!) He tells me never to travel without proper shoes again.  There are not too many cars to worry about and we all love this ride. It is my first hilly ride since my bike accident and while I had a bit of stress about my riding ability I discovered that I could still remember the gearshifts and brake methods.  It was good to be biking again although my butt was not in the best shape for this event.  Next time I will train first! 

We ended up in a tiny chapel perched at the top of a hill for a picnic lunch consisting of Dom’s home made sardines, olive oil, tomatoes and local bread and cheese and peaches for dessert.  Okay I think I will do this on Vashon but could add some fresh crab from Puget Sound.

Reflecting on the beauty 

We end up at 4 pm at a lovely bar also positioned with a great view of Split.

We walk back into town content after our more physical adventure that allows us to eat more that evening. I conclude it was a breakthrough experience.  

We eat dinner at the same restaurant where we had lunch the prior day because John and Seth are hoping to have scorpion fish.  Unfortunately they had no scorpion fish left but they both shared a fish platter with many kinds of fish (hake, prawns, dogfish, sea bass and tuna).  

No left overs! 

We saunter back through the Square again to listen to music.  We are reluctant to go back to our hotel as this is our last night here and we will miss not only this magical land but also our time with Laura and Seth. What a great experience to travel with one’s children as grown ups.  The best gift ever.

The next morning Seth and Laura rent a car and drive us to the Ian Mestrovic Gallery on their way to visit National Park Kraka and waterfalls said to be one of the most beautiful nature spots in Croatia. We wish we were going with them. 

Ivan Mestrovic Gallery contains 86 sculptures in bronze, marble and wood.  I take pictures of 2 of them on the garden which represent how I feel about this trip.