Phase 4, Part A: Split or the Shoeless adventures of Molly and Eric begin.
We arrived in Split in the afternoon and made our way to the center of town attempting to locate the room we rented.
Only after asking a poor kid, whose whole summer employment seemingly consisted of holding an information sign and a placard about a walking tour, were we able to find the info center and from their figure out where we needed to go.
While Split is the largest city we visited in Croatia, we never strayed too far from Diocletian's Palace, the main tourist highlight of the city. Diocletian was a Roman emperor who lived in the third and fourth centuries and built his pension palace in Split. The ruins of the palace are the big draw to town and it has been incorporated into the growing cities structures throughout the centuries, making it an interesting and impressive site.
My favorite part of the palace was the cathedral that was originally Diocletian's mausoleum until the Christian church became the official church. Huge wooden doors with carved scenes from Christ's life guard the entrance to the church. Going inside, I was immediately impressed by the stone brick dome. We wandered around the small cathedral marveling at all its beauty before deciding to climb up the Bell Tower and catch a view of the city and the water.
Part way up, after passing the bells, I heard something fall and hit the bells before making a thud. I turned around and realized that it had been my company's shoe that just fell twelve plus feet. We went back down and saw that the shoe had landed in this cage with the large bells. There appeared to not be a door, so he, watching me unhappily as I doubled over in laughter, began the even longer descent on marble stairs with one shoe on to ask if there was a way to get his stranded sandal back. Amused, I followed behind him.
Fortunately for him, the gentleman working the desk was kind enough to climb out a window and onto a ledge and into another window that led to the cage (mind you, this several storeys up...). With his shoe retrieved, we continued on our way up, but not before he secured his sandals so we wouldn't have a repeat. Upon reaching the top, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the city, the mountains, and the sea. We were very impressed.
Split also has many many western shops so that was exciting for me, and we also went to see the basement rooms of the Palace--which was also pretty interesting.
But before we knew it, it was time to catch our ferry to Hvar.
Only after asking a poor kid, whose whole summer employment seemingly consisted of holding an information sign and a placard about a walking tour, were we able to find the info center and from their figure out where we needed to go.
While Split is the largest city we visited in Croatia, we never strayed too far from Diocletian's Palace, the main tourist highlight of the city. Diocletian was a Roman emperor who lived in the third and fourth centuries and built his pension palace in Split. The ruins of the palace are the big draw to town and it has been incorporated into the growing cities structures throughout the centuries, making it an interesting and impressive site.
My favorite part of the palace was the cathedral that was originally Diocletian's mausoleum until the Christian church became the official church. Huge wooden doors with carved scenes from Christ's life guard the entrance to the church. Going inside, I was immediately impressed by the stone brick dome. We wandered around the small cathedral marveling at all its beauty before deciding to climb up the Bell Tower and catch a view of the city and the water.
Part way up, after passing the bells, I heard something fall and hit the bells before making a thud. I turned around and realized that it had been my company's shoe that just fell twelve plus feet. We went back down and saw that the shoe had landed in this cage with the large bells. There appeared to not be a door, so he, watching me unhappily as I doubled over in laughter, began the even longer descent on marble stairs with one shoe on to ask if there was a way to get his stranded sandal back. Amused, I followed behind him.
Fortunately for him, the gentleman working the desk was kind enough to climb out a window and onto a ledge and into another window that led to the cage (mind you, this several storeys up...). With his shoe retrieved, we continued on our way up, but not before he secured his sandals so we wouldn't have a repeat. Upon reaching the top, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the city, the mountains, and the sea. We were very impressed.
Split also has many many western shops so that was exciting for me, and we also went to see the basement rooms of the Palace--which was also pretty interesting.
But before we knew it, it was time to catch our ferry to Hvar.
posted by Molly | 3:41 AM
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