Days 55 and 56

(Rhia’s comments are italicized)

Visiting the Old Town of Split in the early morning made a huge difference in our experience. Not hot, not crowded, and not open 😂 While we waited for the Cathedral, Palace, and Temple to open, we spent our time just looking at the beauty of the place. I love the early mornings we spend in places before other people show up; it makes me feel one with the place.

When the attractions opened, we were the third people to start the climb up the Cathedral of St. Domnius’ Bell Tower.

The climb was steep and perilous (I slammed my head into an opening while climbing, almost knocking me back down the stairs). There were 200 steps to the top, but the views at the end were spectacular.

The Cathedral of St. Domnius is considered the oldest Catholic cathedral in the world. It was once the burial place for the Roman Emperor Diocletian.

Underneath the Cathedral was the crypt. For me, this was very interesting. So much work went into creating such a small space underground.

We then went to the Cathedral’s treasury museum. It displayed many artifacts and relics of the Cathedral.

Diocletian’s palace is a really large part of the old town. Most of the above ground structure lies in ruins. Diocletian lived there while he was Emperor from 284-305 AD and you can still see the Roman parts. However, they have excavated the Podromi, or cellars of the palace. They were still actively working on excavating and shoring up different parts while we were visiting.

The Temple of Jupiter was dedicated to the worship of the Roman god, but was converted to a baptistry in the 12th century. The temple still stood intact with a beautifully carved stone ceiling.

We finished touring the insides, but still had not had enough of viewing the outsides.

We found a banner that said “Museum of Illusion 100m ⬆️”. We have been trying to visit one of these museums for years, but every one we went to was closed. So we HAD to go!

The next day was supposed to be an early day of roaming the old town one last time and a visit to the beach, but illness struck Rhia in the night. Dan’s being polite. I had the Croatian version of Delhi-Belly or Montezuma’s Revenge. I walked to the beach, which was unlike any beach I had been to before. The shore line had been designed and built like a HUGE swimming pool, complete with ladders, steps, water polo, diving, swim lanes, a sandy beach, lots of people, and no waves.

I’m sad I didn’t get to go to the beach as this is likely to be our last visit. Tomorrow we’re off to Zagreb, the capital, and then we have to travel, travel, travel to get to Brussels to catch the Eurostar (the Chunnel train, as we affectionately refer to it in the UK). And, from what we’re reading, we’re going to start hitting rain! We’ll manage but I only have a sweater and Dan doesn’t even have that 😂 We’ll see soon enough what tomorrow brings.