While in a wander through the zigzag stone streets of Diocletian's Palace, we came upon an opportunely located quintet of singers of traditional Dalmatian music - so I made a little video to collage of random views of the city of Split to their lovely song. The footage begins up on Marjan Hill, near the Jewish cemetery with pines saturated with cicadas, within Diocletian's Palace on the streets and up in the Bell Tower of Cathedral Sv. Duje, and in the Adriatic Sea itself...getting a little too hyper at the end ;) Enjoy! Climbing the Marjan StairsMarjan (MAR-yan) Hill is a huge pine-covered park that juts westward into the sea. Its steep slopes host several medieval chapels, churches, an expansive Jewish cemetery (dating back to the 16th century), an ancient city zoo and scraggy forests to it's 178 meter peak. It's easy to start climbing Marjan from the city center - just head west on any road and you'll find some sort of street/stair to climb. However the hill has a famous stone-carved staircase that leads from a belvedere near the Riva in Varoš up a winding path through backyards and city switchbacks to a massive panoramic by Vidilica cafe (believe it or not, about ten minutes at a moderate pace). On clear days the farthest Croatian island of Vis can be seen from here. Jezinac & Ovčice BeachesAs a beautiful display of Croatian culture, the majority of the Split coast is preserved as a string of public beaches. With few exceptions (the oversized ferry and cruise terminals and the Riva boardwalk (still public)), the entire waterfront is accessible to anyone who desires to swim, wade, spearfish and dive into the blue sea. I find it amazing how many people (who I'm interpreting as locals) of all ages seem to take a daily break to swim a few ocean laps and then re-dress on the beach and head back to their day on land. Indeed, there seems to be designated areas where men play water soccer, ladies bounce in waves and chat, the children throw themselves off boulders to splash down and at least one eighty year old woman is always swimming a few meters beyond the deep ocean swimming extents. Inspired by their devotion, Nate and I have tried to continue the sea-appreciation dive in as often as we can! ![]() From Dubrovnik we caught a local bus north, following the Adriatic coast to the city of Split. Split is the largest city in Dalmatia and spreads across a central peninsula and several seaside towns. The city hosts over 300,000 residents, industry workers, fishers and flocks of visitors - who come by air, land and sea, excited to visit the Roman Palace, the precipitous Marjan Hill, snack-lined Riva Promenade and crystalline beaches. Within the Palace walls![]() Split is well-known as the site of Roman Emperor Diocletian's retirement palace - an elaborate home constructed and adorned by stones from Italy and Egypt & encapsulated in a 25 m tall fortress. In the 1500s, most of his (31,000 square meter) palace was replaced by a rambling medieval town with stone streets, walls and roofs - much like Dubrovnik. But below the surface remains a massive network of service halls, storage caves and utility rooms (like an extant olive oil pressing rooms with marble gears). These layered remains of Diocletian's Palace was designated an UNESCO world heritage site in 1979. ![]() The following short video was filmed over the course of a few intensive days of exploration in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik, particularly Old Town and Babin Kuk. The Town has an interesting summer tradition of installing ceremonial guards in medieval red suits and feathered hats to stand by all entryways as the sky darkens. You'll hear their drums play during the changing of the guards. Other interesting sights include: the Dubrovnik Maskeron (a flat stone gargoyle that protrudes from a Franciscan Monastery that is said to bring luck in love to any person who can balance on its 13 centimeter marble head long enough to remove their shirt), views of the famous Stradun boulevard and other interior streets, the Onofrio fountain (bringing fresh water to the city since 1311), some giant bivalves and of course the fortress itself! Enjoy :) Within The Walled CityNate and I made it to Croatia last week, landing at night in the Southern city of Dubrovnik. This small city is built into the Adriatic coast, upon stone walls that soar up from the sea and fortify the labyrinthine interior of terracotta capped churches, homes, restaurants and squares. It's a wonderful wandering town, full of mysterious alleys and glowing marble-tiled boulevards - an easy size to happily get lost for an afternoon, but still locate yourself in time for a late-night dinner. We did just that our first day here, and even found a few special (literal) holes in the walls - where a crevice in the fortress allowed us to climb out into the stone cliffs, drink a 40 kuna beer and jump off the city's edge into the salty sea! It was so refreshing (and necessary) we ducked out of the broiling sun a couple times that day for impromptu sea-escapes. Luckily for us, suits were hardly required. ;) Out to Babin KukWe stayed outside the walls of Old Town in a beautiful neighborhood called Babin Kuk. The public transportation system is pretty easy and inexpensive. We'd catch a ten minute ride from our area to Old Town for 13 kuna (about 2 bucks) and visa versa - 24 hour unlimiteds are also available. The area had a restaurant-filled promenade that led to a glassy string of public beaches. The only challenge were the steep stair/roads that we had to take to and from our apartment and everywhere else - 314 steps one way! Guess, it's good to have exercise built into the daily experience. :) Next! To Split!
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AuthorAn Upstate New York-grown, art history + Italian major turned organic farm volunteer turned Home Health Aide turned Landscape Architecture Grad student currently adventuring about the globe and taking far too many photos for one travel blog to handle. Archives
December 2017
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