The Split for Split
Yesterday we attempted our first mass outing, with all 20 of us making our way from Kastel Stari, where we're staying, to the city of Split. This involved a couple Ubers and 3 cars. I can report everyone traveled safely, which is always questionable when commuting in any city/area you're unfamiliar with, in particular when the road signs are written in a foreign language. (I believe My Friend Jeanie's husband, Bill, just recently stopped getting speeding tickets from the car son-in-law Marty drove while we were in Italy 5 years ago.)
Impressions of Split from what we drove through: Plenty of 60s and 70s type architecture, tall, blocky, concrete apartment buildings that I think would be easily transported to the Communist Eastern Bloc countries of ago. Laundry hung out the windows, sometimes two and three lines deep. Traffic dense, scooters attempting to make their way in between the lines of cars on the streets, giving drivers dirty looks if the car's rear view mirror impeded their route. Massive chain stores scattered along the route, many of which, according to Reike, are imported from Germany. For example, Bauhaus, the equivalent of Home Depot.
Our agreed upon destination was Diocletian's Palace, the major tourist attraction in Split. Located on the waterfront, built between the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD, it is known as the most imposing Roman ruins. Amazingly, we all caught up with each other, split into two groups, and with Marcy leading the tour and me acting as the wrangler, we toured the various landmarks of the ruins. One in particular I was interested in seeing was Diocletian's cellars as they were used in the HBO/MAX series Game of Thrones for the setting where Daenerys Targaryen kept her dragons. Only a few of our tour group had watched Game of Thrones, so I'm not sure everyone was appreciative as I hummed the theme song while we walked through the cellars, but I'll go with it being pretty cool. There are specific Game of Thrones tours now to both Split and Dubrovnik; quite a few scenes were filmed in Diocletian's Palace and around Split. Henri had watched GOT and it was very fun to talk about it with him. He did more of a deeper dive into the show that I did so I loved hearing his perspective. I just stuck with the show because in the first episode, the writers killed off Lord Neddard Ned Stark, a main character portrayed by Sean Bean and I thought any show that kills off Sean Bean in the first episode is worth an hour of my time on Sunday nights.
The cellars, as well as most of the site, was relatively crowded given it's a Saturday, high tourist season, so I renamed this from where Daenyrs kept her dragons to where Daenyrs kept her tourists.
4 of my bonus grands: Luke, Lucy, MaggieRose and Millie Luft
We also toured the Temple of Venus used as the baptisty, where, as is my habit, I lit 2 votive candles--one for those who have gone before us and one for those of us still here.
Then it was on to the Crypt of St. Lucy, its coolness a blessed relief from the heat and humidity of the day. There was an unfortunate lack of explanatory signage there (and basically everywhere, perhaps our error in not taking a guided tour) so we relied on Google (and whosever phone could get cell service) to tell us about St. Lucy. Turns out she is the patron saint of eyes, which explained why her statue was holding a tray of eyeballs.
Obligatory photo of Lucy in front of the St. Lucy sign. She did this with great grace and toleration.
St. Lucy holding the eyeballs. There were many little open cells in the crypt and we used our imagination to speculate how they may have been used.
From there we went to the Cathedral, a good thing because the ominous rumbling off the waterfront did indeed turn out to be a pretty significant thunderstorm while we were inside. Bill said a local he spoke with says it never rains in Split and that this was the first rain they'd had in a while and it would probably be the last.
This rather surprised me, given I've been in quite a few sacred spots, and it was the first time I've been asked to cover up. I wore a romper type outfit and was given a lovely piece of brown cloth to cover my legs as not to offend the Almighty. At this stage in the game, I'm not testing the waters so I did. Evidently belly buttons don't offend, since the current trend of crop tops and shorts which bare the midriff were not required to be covered.
Croatia appears to have a particular connection with the late Pope John Paul II. In fact, the road our apartment is on is named for him. He was Polish and whenever he appeared in public, the crowd often sang Sto Lat! to him, which we sing when we celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries.
As the storm subsided, we dodged the rain drops for the climb up the bell tower, 180 steps, most of them stone, steep and rain slicked. (Henri did tell me, as we dashed out of the Cathedral, that if he got hit by lightning, he was coming back to haunt me.) Even the kids were a little leery of them and we all walked up and down most cautiously. A view from a tower is always a bit breathtaking and this fell into that category.
It's always relatively disappointing to have photos confirm your age.
Overlooking the harbor in Split. There was one cruise ship in dock. Croatia has always been a prime vacation spot for Europeans, confirmed by the many different languages and license plates we heard and say.
Overlooking the harbor in Split. There was one cruise ship in dock. Croatia has always been a prime vacation spot for Europeans, confirmed by the many different languages and license plates we heard and saw. As I mentioned yesterday, it will be interesting to see if/how it changes as more Americans visit. I have noticed that in places we once visited before they became more popular or cruise ships began docking as part of the cruises' itinerary.
6 of the bonus grands with a couple Gladiators: Luke, Lucy, MaggieRose, Millie Luft, Lillie and Caitlin McManus
I'm always amazed that ruins and relics and centuries old buildings remain, that they weren't razed along the way for condos or parking lots. Most seems to be in a state of perpetual repair, which one would expect, hence the scaffolding.
The streets on the palace grounds are narrow and there are many shops as well as residences there.
Following lunch on the waterfront, we walked through the various vendor stalls, ending up at a Farmer's Market where we grabbed fresh fruit and veggies. Most of the veggies ended up in a stir fry Marcy and I made for dinner, using up leftover pork chops. Neither of us is accustomed to cooking for 20, growing to 24 tonight with the arrival of Nico, Sybille, Luisa and Clara from Hamburg, so after cooking half a bag of rice, it was on to cooking the entire bag. No leftovers. Given the ages of the kids, they are eating machines. We'll get it worked out.
Today is an 'off day.' Lots of pool, maybe a trot down to the beach as it is significantly cooler than the past few days. Ah, vacation.
Comments
Post a Comment