It was early summer when my company invited me for a short meeting about our newest project in Split, Croatia. I was already assigned to another huge project, but my company had some worries about connection model proposed by our colleagues in Croatia, and they needed the second opinion. So they ask me to somehow push short consultation with them into my already full schedule. To be honest - I usually decline request like this one, as jumping into hot water is not something I need to do anymore to prove myself, but... I didn't seen Split for a very long time.
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Last time when I was in Split, I was a young boy, travelling Adriatic coast from Montenegro to Slovenia with few high school friends. It was one of my earliest exploration travels, and with a smile, I remembered huge backpack, an old tent and a guitar that were my 'summer equipment'... money not included in picture ;) We hitch-hiked all the way, eat mostly nothing, played the guitars on the beaches and had the best times of our lives in one of longest summer vacation I ever had. That was a first and last time when I been in Split. We were just passing through on our way to some smaller towns in that area, and all I could remember was The Riva next to the old palace. But as far as I could remember - I could mistake Split with any other coastal town in the world.
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So, I accepted to travel to Split (surprise there) ;) I am not going to bug you with full details of the logistic nightmare of that travel, but the conclusion was that I will come to Split, have a meeting and then, while I wait for next plane, I will have full three hours to explore Split. Yeah... not the brightest of all ideas I had, but I was never the sharpest tool in the shed ;)
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Just to understand how crazy optimistic my plan was - Split is huge coastal town, second largest town in Croatia with a little bit less than 350.000 people living in the metropolitan area. It is one of the largest harbours in Croatia and Adriatic sea. It is humongous, and to see anything in three hours is optimistic as believing that 350.000 people are not going to create rush hour with their cars on Tuesday around 16:00 hours... I mean - why should they?!?
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Well they did, surprisingly :) Rush hour was at full, and the only reason why I manage to see anything in Split is that my good friend and coworker was Formula One driver in previous life. He managed to ignore all horns and roundabouts and couple red lights and got us in the Riva area in almost no time. So, while the sun was slowly announcing spectacular sunset, happy that I am still alive after sudden Grand Prix of Dalmatia, I stepped down on very tourist centre of Split - The Riva, next to an amazing old palace.
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The sea was dark blue, the air was salty, seagulls were flying above me, the sky was blue as it can be and the sight of known palm trees were made me very happy. This was why I actually came to Split. So I grabbed a coffee-to-go in the nearest shop and went into a short walk through an amazing palace located exactly there - Diocletian Palace.
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As you may know, I am not a historian at all, but I like some good read, so in my short walk around that amazing place I found out couple facts. Diocletian was one of the last Roman emperors, and many historians give him a credit for enabling Roman Empire to stay intact for almost 150 years after his rule. He was born in small town Solin in modern Croatia around 244 year AD. As his father was a freedman of the senator Anullinus, young Diocletian becomes part of Roman society from his early ages. For forty years he advanced through military ranks of the Roman army to become Roman cavalry commander to Emperor Carus. After emperor Carus died on the battlefield with his son in an Persian campaign, and after defeating other Carus son in another battle - Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. Yep, that easy... and not fishy at all... so let's move on ;)
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Even though some may find Diocletian rise to the throne a little questioning, there is no one who can deny that he was a great emperor. He put Roman Empire on solid feet and he was one who ended Third Century Crisis of Roman Empire. He was the one who secured borders of empire and defeated all those who dare to endanger or attack the empire. By all means, he was one of most successful Roman empires in the whole history. And, at the end - he was the first Roman emperor who voluntary stepped down from his throne and abdicate. First one!
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After his retirement, Diocletian lived by the end of his life in his palace at Dalmatian coast - Diocletian Palace. Palace was very well fortified and one of most beautiful in the whole coast. Palace was built from best white limestone of that time, and history very often mentions gardens of Diocletian Palace as one among most beautiful in whole Roman Empire. Diocletian spent his last days there in palace beautiful gardens and died in 312 AD. His remains were buried at Emperor Diocletian's mausoleum, which is today known as Cathedral of St. Domnius. Yes, you guess right, around that place through centuries, the city has grown to become today's modern city of Split.
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So, that was the streets I was walking in the late evening on one beautiful sunny Tuesday. What can I tell you except that palace is really, really beautiful. Ages did take some monuments and put a yellowish patina on a marble stone, but in my eyes, those walls are bright and even more beautiful with weight of years. And those narrow streets - ah, my Venetian loving heart was singing. Whoever designed that palace, he had some connection with the Republic of Venice - trust me. I enjoyed every step of my short visit to Split. And the coffee was excellent to ;) But, I had so little time to walk around those monumental walls, the sun has announced the end of the day with one more spectacular sunset and I had to go to catch my plane.
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Hopefully, one day I will come to Split as an ordinary tourist to enjoy all beauty of this amazing coast. I believe that this city and surrounding little towns and villages have a lot of surprises to offer. Until then, one big greeting from one amazing piece of Roman history... or should I say salute... or maybe even Ave!
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I hope you will enjoy in these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.
This blog entry is part of My Travel Blog series. All my posts are !originalworks
I have many more travel stories in my bag, so stay tuned.
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