Split (Croatia)

View of one of the beaches from Marjan Park

Split has a long history of being a beach town, beginning with the Roman emperor Diocletian and his palace. Diocletian was actually born along the Dalmatian coast. Dalmatia was everything facing Italy across the Adriatic Sea. Perhaps a better question is how a Dalmatian became a Roman emperor. Diocletian rose up the ranks through the military (Dalmatia was a province of Rome). When the emperor died, Diocletian took over as emperor. Yet, he still wanted to return to his home province of Dalmatia. Therefore, he built his palace in Split as a place to retire. For a palace completed in 305 AD, it has many engineering feats. The emperor's quarters are built over the sea. Diocletian didn't want to have to go up and down steps to get to and from the water. Therefore, a "basement" of arches was built on the seaside in order to put all of the ground floor of the palace on the same level.

Facade from Diocletian's Palace.
This was originally built over the water.

Only the emperor's quarters faced the ocean. There were multiple windows that allowed in the fresh sea breeze as well as the sound of the waves. Diocletian entertained guests here. He even had a fountain that gurgled continually with wine. Diocletian's servants and guards each had a respective quarter in the section of the palace furthest from the sea. Some of the artifacts that Diocletian imported for his palace included sphinxes from Egypt.

Diocletian & the changing of the guards

Today, the sphinxes remain, as well as Diocletian's mausoleum. In fact, the entire palace complex is still in use today. And, not just for the daily noon changing of the Roman guards and visit of the emperor and empress. The "basement" section now houses a variety of vendor stalls for any kind of souvenir. There are restaurants scattered throughout the ground level. There's even a hotel inside the palace; but, it'll set you back 1000 Euros/night.

View from Vidilica Cafe overlooking Split

Outside of Diocletian's palace, Split has much to offer for the summer tourists. The rocky beaches are full of sunbathers and the clear water is full of swimmers. But, my favorite part outside of the palace is Marjan Park. It is a peninsula of Split just west of Diocletian's Palace. Follow the clearly marked signs to climb up the steps to the park. Stop for a refreshment at a Vidilica cafe next to the Old Jewish Cemetery for amazing views. Marjan Park itself is home to small chapels and hermitages from the 13th century through the Renaissance. Some of these are dug out of the side of the rock walls.

Hermitage in Marjan Park

But, just before spending an entire afternoon hiking around Marjan Park in the hot sun, I stopped at the farmers' market for refreshments There were fruits, vegetables, meats, flowers, food vendors. I picked up some fresh figs and had cevapi. Delicious street food at most reasonable prices.

Farmers' market

Hvar (Croatia)

Clear water and rocky beaches of Hvar

 When I looked up Hvar in my Lonely Planet, I was a bit worried. It is a decidedly beach island off the coast of Croatia. Plus it's frequented by the rich and famous. Expensive beach boredom is not quite my idea of a fun tourist destination. Yet, we had a lot of fun!

Sunset from the fortress

The first day that we arrived, we attempted to take the city tour. We missed it by 5-10 minutes. Therefore, we used the tourist map to do our own walking tour. It culminated in a walk up the city fortress for a beautiful view of sunset.

Remains of a 3rd-6th century Roman villa

The next day, we boarded a boat with other tourists for an excursion to the Paklinski Islands. At the first stop, our ship anchored just off shore; and, we jumped in the sea. The water was refreshing and clear. At the second stop, we were dropped at the rocky beach for a couple hours. During this long stop, I hiked to the ruins of a 3rd-6th century AD Roman villa. It was underwhelming after hiking for 3.5 km (1 hour) on a rocky, overgrown path. Afterward, the ship's crew made us a delicious mackerel lunch accompanied with tomato and cabbage salad. When we finished our plates, we dumped the leftovers over board and watched the fish fight over the food. At the third stop, the ship again anchored off shore. Since the water was so clear, we could see the bottom. It was deeper than it looked. Some people even jumped into the water off the top of the boat! Another girl and I swam across the little bay and back. It was a perfect day of fun in the sun.

Dubrovnik (Croatia)

Dubrovnik is much like Venice -- a former city/state with a highly successful port and trade. It's surrounded by the beautiful Adriatic Sea and rocky beaches. I dipped my feet in the clear, lightly refreshing water. But, the sun is too fierce to go swimming. Instead, I purchased the one day Dubrovnik card for 150 kuna ($30). Ridiculously expensive for this tiny town; but, everything is expensive here. We were spoiled by food prices in Montenegro and Sarajevo. But here, even each bus ride is 12 kuna ($2.40). A 24 hour pass is a deal at 30 kuna ($6). [The Dubrovnik card included a 24 hour bus pass.]

Part of the city walls around old Dubrovnik

The thing to see was the city walls (included in the Dubrovnik card), which are otherwise 100 kuna. Get there as early as possible (opens at 8 am) in order to get photos unobstructed by tourists. There are seven other sites included in the card. I stopped at all of them. All were tiny.

Here's my ranking of the Dubrovnik card sites from best to worst:

Part of the city walls around old Dubrovnik

1. City Walls -- beautiful, unobstructed photo views @ 8 am. The best site in Dubrovnik!

1743 document award to Dubrovnik captain for bringing pilgrims to Jerusalem.

2. Maritime museum -- very interesting. Two floors. History of Dubrovnik's port and trade back to the 9th century.

Leatherback sea turtle stuffed in 1894 by Baldo Kosic

3. Natural History Museum -- exhibits of Suez canal and accompanying fish migration and effects, variety of stuffed animals, including a sea turtle preserved by Dubrovnik naturalist Baldo Kosic around 1900.

Bronze jacks that originally rang the bell in the bell tower

4. Rector's Palace -- wide variety of interesting objects, including royal palanquins, jars from the city's Franciscan pharmacy, an exhibition of photos while Dubrovnik was shelled, the bronze "jacks" that rang the bell in the bell tower, old lock boxes and a prison. No photos allowed.

Map from Ethnographic museum. Black dot is Dubrovnik.
Black routes were former trading routes.

5. Ethnographic Museum -- floor of folklore; two floors of objects from daily life. No photos allowed.

"The three tenors" by Damir Fabijanic.
Do you recognize these three leaders?

6. Art Gallery Dubrovnik -- two floors of special exhibitions. One floor of Croatian artists and sculptors

7. Dulcic-Masle-Pulitika -- two small rooms of paintings. Skip it.

8. Marin Drzic House -- unless you know who this playwright is (and read Croatian), skip it.