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| The view from halfway up Marjan lookout - the port of Split. One cruise ship docked. |
Split, second largest city after Zagreb and the largest on the Dalmatian Coast for Croatia. One of the oldest cities in the area and home to the Palace of the Roman Emperor - Diocletian whom ruled from 284 to 305AD. The Palace was constructed for the Emperor's retirement in 305 and remains mostly intact.
We arrived in Split 5 days before we departed on Sail Croatia, to do the tourist thing and take the time to look around and see the sights. We stayed in a self contained apartment we found on AirBnB which was around 1km from the Palace and old town city centre. All the AirBnB's we have used thus far in Croatia have been really really good! Possibly some of the best accommodation we've had for the trip in terms of value for money, comfort and amenities.
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| Gregory of Nin - outside the golden gates of the Palace. He had a lucky foot, if you touched it a wish would come true. |
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| There were a lot of daily markets surrounding the Split Palace selling clothing, nic nacks, tourist rubbish and lots of nice fruit and vegetables. |
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| Inside the Palace - narrow streets... |
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The Palace Peristyle - central square of the palace and the entrance to the emperors quarters.
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| Ruins of the some of the original buildings |
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| Entrance to the cellars/basement. Over the centuries most of the palace has undergone some form of restoration however the basement still keeps some of its originality. |
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| Port side, outside the walls. The esplanade I suppose you could call it, home to an abundance of bars and restaurants. |
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| Interesting solar seat with wifi...... |
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| Atop Marjan lookout |
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| Enjoying some Nutella donuts. |
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| Blue skies, temperatures around 25-30deg C |
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| Amy's mate Candice, and her friend Rebecca rolled in a couple of days later in preparation for Sail Croatia. |
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| #catlyf - cats everywhere |
After a couple of days exploring off our own bat we decided to take a walking tour to get the facts about the Palace/old town area. The tour was around 75 kuna each and went for 2 hours.
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This support in the basement is 100% original 1700years old.
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| Some of Game of Thrones has been shot here and its pretty popular with the tourists! Plenty of walking tours constantly in all languages around the palace. |
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| Following our walking tour guide through the streets inside the palace. |
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| Inside the Emperors Quarters |
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| Inside the Emperors Quarters looking towards the port. |
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| Some of what is left of the Emperors House where the semi circle window is. Some of the palace had been renovated prior to been declared a UNESCO heritage listing in 1979. |
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| This house built above the street, when the residents inside the palace ran out of room to live they started building above the streets and in between existing buildings. Our tour guide said at certain instances throughout history up to 60000 people lived inside the palace walls. |
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| Residential apartments inside the palace, inside the Emperors quarters. Since the UNESCO listing, these ruins cannot be refurbished unless significant paperwork is complete and many of the existing residents whom still call some of these buildings home approve it. |
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| The massive Vestibule inside entrance to the emperors quarters. |
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| The bell tower, not originally roman, built in recent times - maybe like 18oo's. However, the granite sphinx you can see on the right is 100% original 3500 years old and placed there when the Palace was first built. |
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| enroute to the beach |
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| Amy and Candice enjoying the new purchase ahead of Sail Croatia. |
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| A rocky beach, typical of the Croatian coastline. |
Favourite things about Split
- The Marjan lookout - gives you a good perspective of the coast, you can see for miles and we enjoyed watching boats and water planes come and go. The port was a hype of activity.
- Walking along the esplanade and around the port looking at all the massive yachts and private ships.
- Exploring the Palace, there are so many hidden restaurants and bars. Its all so cramped and gives you a good idea of what life would have been like over a thousand years ago!!
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