The summer sun beat down on the smooth white washed marble streets of Split. Tourists walked around in a near naked state, their skin as red as tomatoes and their accents overwhelmingly Australian.
The evening heat had pushed against our damp skin sticking our clothes to us and the fluorescent coloured lights from a nearby nightclub shone into the night sky.
But we had felt energised and excited by the prospect of enjoying the summer heat. We had started our Croatian adventure with a feast at a local restaurant which served a number of Croatian specialities like charred bbq'd fish and succulent slow cooked meats.
We had sat outside on a terrace gulping our cold beer, laughing about visiting Splits froggy museum. We had smelt the wood burning as we had waited for our tasty dinner.
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| Trg Republic plaza |
The following morning we had departed the apartment with breakfast on the forefront of our minds. With a few hours before having to check in to our adventure sail week we were able to amble around slowly.
By 10am it was well over 30degrees and as we lugged our bags through the old town our backs dripped with sweat. In the daylight the old town enchanted us, at each side street we crossed we bent our necks to see what lay down each one.
We were enticed by the narrow archways and the solid walls of the hundreds of years old houses. Many over half a meter thick and high enough to offer a tiny respite of shade. Above our heads gorgeous pink and purple bougainvillea cascaded down the old rock and flags were strewn along the alley in preparation for next weeks neighbourhood party.
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| An old bank, Split |
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| Ancient street corners |
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| Flowers everywhere! |
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| Amazing lanes in the old city |
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| Narodni plaza, Split |
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| Ispud Ure gate |
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| Katedrala de Split |
We took a short cut through the Diocletian palace, built over 1725 years ago in 305AD it's now part and parcel of the old town. The palace was often considered as the creation of the city! But evidence has shown that actually split is one of the oldest cities in the area and was in fact founded as a Greek colony in the 4th century BC, about 2,400 years ago.
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| Entrance to the silver gate, Split |
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| Bosanska lane, old town |
We decided that we would come back later to explore the palace further. First up was breakfast and then our yacht check in. After we had eaten and checked in we still had half a day of exploring so after a quick interlude at an amazing ice cream shop we jumped in an uber and ventured out of the city towards the seemingly undiscovered (from mass tourism) Klis fortress.
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| Klis fortress down towards Split |
The medieval Klis fortress sits overlooking the village of Klis, high in the arid rocky foothills above Split. From the 2nd century BC the hills above Split were inhabited by the ancient Illyrian tribe, the Delmati.
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| View across the fortress Split |
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| One lone tower |
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| Four dragon hunters heading to Klis fortress |
While first records from the Romans indicate a large fortress high in the mountains it evolved to become a royal castle that was the seat of many Croatian Kings.
Klis Fortress has guarded the frontier, being lost and re-conquered several times throughout its more-than-two-thousand-year-long history. Still considered one of the most significant fortifications in Croatia, due to its strategic importance and location between the mountain passes. We were drawn there however by the hope of finding a dragon.
Not just any dragon, but particularly, one of Daenerys Stormborns dragons shot during season four of Game of Thrones! The appeal of visiting the film location of Meeren was very exciting to our little game of thrones fan group of four!
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| A renovated entrance way |
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| Making our way into the fortress |
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| High in the rocky foothills of Split |
As we jumped from the uber we hardly had a moment before he raced away in a trail of dust. It crossed our minds that we could be stuck on this hot mountain for a while - could we even catch a bus back to the city?
There didn't seem to be anyone around. We trudged up the steep embankment wiping sweat brow our brows to see an amazing view over the Damation coast line and across the Adriatic Sea.
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| From the top of Klis fortress |
Directly behind us was the fortress had an amazing panoramic view over the lush vineyards, farms and craggy mountains. We clambered through the main entrance completely ignored by the man at the ticket counter who looked utterly engrossed in his cigarette.
We proceed to venture off in our own time, climbing through small doorways and down narrow tunnels which lead onto ancient terraces. There was an old church and Venetian foundations strewn about from some of the oldest buildings. But no Dragons.
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| The boys bringing up the rear |
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| Views across the valley |
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| Hunting for dragons |
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| Military tunnels (maybe a ghost in here) |
Eventually we felt we had done the fortress justice and had explored it's knooks and crannies so we grabbed a cold drink while we negotiated the public holiday bus schedule. We realized we had just enough time to bus back into Split and explore the Diocletian Palace. So chuffed with our efforts to make the most out of our time in Split we felt we were getting a full days worth of sun and Mediterranean heat.
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| A cathedral and statue of Grugur Ninski |
Considered to be one of the most imposing Roman ruins, Diocletian’s palace is certainly the main attraction in the city of Split. The old ruins are considered some of the most valuable surviving buildings of the Roman era on the Adriatic coastline.
Emperor Diocletian, who voluntarily gave up the throne of the Roman Empire, in the turn of the 4th century CE built the palace for himself and after his retirement in, 305AD settled here, on the beach, in what was then the Illyrian province of Rome. Pretty sweet gig really!
The Diocleatian palace was a massive structure in its time and contained not only the palace itself but also buildings, intended for housing military garrison. The whole complex occupied around 30,000 square meters and today these ruins make up the heart of Splits old town.
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| Splits golden gate, entrance to the old town |
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| Walking through Dioklecijanova lane |
As we walked down into the old city from the bus station past an array of shops and restaurants we slid about on the white stone beneath our jandals. We made our way towards the ancient limestone and marble palace surrounded by old Roman columns. Emperor Diocletian had a wish to enter his palace by ship, without leaving the deck.
Quite an engineering feat at the time, huge underground vaults beneath the palace were created to fit several boats. Although today the Adriatic sea has receded and water no longer floods the basement it's still possible to imagine what it must have been like as we wandered around the dark, damp vaults beneath the palace.
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| Kara in an old Roman bath tub (or horse trough) |
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| Exploring the underground vaults |
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| Ancient walls of the palace |
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| Matt and Sam on a mission |
The palace itself is a sort of irregular rectangle shape with numerous towers on the western, northern, and eastern facades. The Emperor’s apartments were was located on the southern part of the complex - along the seaside, but only the foundation and lower floors of these apartments have survived.
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| Split opera house |
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| Marmontova shopping street |
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| Uvala Matejuska marina |
As it got closer to 6pm we eventually made our way back along the water front to the ACI marina. It was time to board our sail boat and get ourselves acquainted with the next exciting leg of our Croatian holiday.
Tot siens,
Kara (and John by subsidiary
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