This is a blog for a trip Paula and Armando did starting in Venice, Italy and finishing in Drubovnik, Croatia visiting Rovinj, Opatija, Rijeka, Plitvice Lakes, Zadar, Split and the islands of Brac and Hvar. We also visited Montenegro where we rode around the bay of Kotor and visited the cities of Budva and Cetinje.
Today we spent the day in Split. We walked the old town and visited the Diocletean's Palace. The area of the historic city of Split built around the Palace has been included by Unesco in the register of World Cultural Heritage since 1979.
Diocletian was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed Emperor. Diocletian's reign stabilized the Empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century. Diocletian's reforms fundamentally changed the structure of Roman imperial government and helped stabilize the Empire economically and militarily, enabling the Empire to remain essentially intact for another hundred years despite having seemed near the brink of collapse in Diocletian's youth. Weakened by illness, Diocletian left the imperial office on 1 May 305, and became the only Roman emperor to voluntarily abdicate the position. He lived out his retirement in his palace on the Dalmatian coast, tending to his vegetable gardens.
The ground plan of the palace is an irregular rectangle (approximately 160 meters x 190 meters) with towers projecting from the western, northern, and eastern facades. It combines qualities of a luxurious villa with those of a military camp, with its huge gates and watchtowers. The palace is enclosed by walls, and at times, it housed over 9000 people. Subterranean portions of the palace feature barrel vaulted stonework.
We got a tour guide to walk with us and explain the history of the palace which was quite interesting. In the same group we met a young couple from Bristol in England and we will probably go there when we are in UK later in October.
We had a good lunch very close to the iron gate, the gate of the palace on the West side. Food was quite good and the creme caramel was one of the best we have had.
One of the highlights of our day was going up the bell tower and see Split from the highest point in the city. In the first section of the tower the height of each individual step was very high. Once inside the tower there was a set of iron stairs that were open which gave the feeling you were suspended in midair. A couple of people gave up when they got to this section. If you suffer by any kind of vertigo I assume this would be very difficult. The view and pictures up at the tower were worth the cimb though. We love bell towers and will always do then if possible as views are usually very nice.
We also went to the cathedral which is right inside the Palace. The cathedral is named after Saint Duje, patron saint of Split, who was a 3rd century Bishop of Salona. Salona was a large Roman city serving as capital of the Province of Dalmatia and about 8 Kms north from where Split is today. Saint Duje was martyred with seven other Christians in the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian (the same that created the palace). So how about that, the Christian bishop is beheaded by the Emperor and today the cathedral inside the palace and by far the best conserved building is named after him.
Towards end of day we sat on a bench watching the sun set and see Croatians people and families closing up the Sunday.
Before dinner we took another quick stroll through the best sites and photographed them at night.
For dinner we went to Trattoria Bajamonte which is supposed to be one of the places to eat in Split. Ambience was great as we ate in a small table against the wall of a house on the actual pedastrian street. Food was also good. As we finishing the meal, it started to drizzle and we had to move inside where we met two young men from Mexico (one leaving in Sweden and the other in France) that were in Split for a conference. Both of them are PhDs in Physics and work with the CERN institute in Switzerland. It was great to speak some Spanish.
Today we will take an earlier night as tomorrow we have to catch a ferry quite early to Vela Luka on way to Dobrovnik.
VIDEOS
City of Split from the Bell Tower
A group of male singers who perform klapa music, a cappella multi-part singing, in a special traditional way, typical for Dalmatia, Croatia
Today we spent the day in the island of Brac. Most of the time we were at Zlatni Rat beach in Bol which is supposed to be Croatia's best beach.
I cannot vouch if it is the best beach of Croatia or not but it surely makes it in top three of best beaches I have been to. Here is a write up about it and apart fom taking some amazing pictures we have also made a two minute video of it. You be the judge.
"Croatia's most spectacular is the vast, golden shingle sandbar, almost 580 yards long, known as the Golden Horn. It juts out into the water at Bol on the island of Brac, the large island opposite Makarska. The beach has a unique shape, like a white tongue stretched into the sea. It is unique also for the fact that it changes shape and position, depending on the wind."
We decided to go matchy-matchy using the BMW Motorrad Fans (from Portugal) t-shirts and took the 11:15am ferry to Brac.
On the ferry we had two interesting encounters. First with a couple from Finland that was in Split spending about 4 days. Leena was very sweet lady and Erkki was very outspoken (not normal for Finns). He was a very strong runner and told me times he did that were amazing. 1,500 meters in 3:45 and his best marathon time on 2 hours 36 minutes. He is now involved in rowing. He trains Olympic rowers and also builds rowing boats. He rows 10Kms every morning. They invited us to vist them in their home in Espoo when we get back to Finland. Paula was able to take a photo of them as we left the ferry. They are the ones waving back.
The other encounter was with Josko who is a member of th BMW Klub in Split. When he saw us he came and asked if we were the owners of the big BMW. We said yes and then he gave us a piece of paper that he had written and was going to put it on the bike together with sticker of the club. We spoke for about 40 minutes about riding in Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Albania. His stories about Albania were hilarious as he explained what is like driving there. Before we left the ferry I put the sticker on the bike.
We were pretty much the first vehicle leaving the ferry at Supetar and made our way to Bol as we wanted to spend some time in Zlatin Rat beach. The distance is about 35 Kms and very winding with beautiful views as we get closer to coast line. What a pleasure to do on a bike.
The beach is so beautiful and water so calm that I got out the GoPro camera, put it in special waterproof enclosure and took some pics at water level.
As the sun started coming down we left Zlatin Rat beach and made our way to see Bol. As we entered the town a number of people tried to sell us a room for the night. This is an interesting practice that we saw the first time yesterday when we visited Hvar. In today's highly internet-based world, in Croatia you can still get a room by looking at a person in the face and see if that is the person you would like to do business with.
After driving in Bol and saying no many times, we went up the mountain and east to Sumatrin which is the city that is closest to the mainland. You can actually see the tall mountains being kissed by the sun as we came down towards Sumatrin at sea level.
We did not have much time as sun was coming down and we needed to make the ferry back in Supetar but we still managed to take some nice pictures and put a note that Sumatrin is nice to visit. Color of water was yet again different and beautiful.
The way back to the ferry was yet again quite fun as we pushed the motorbike through the winding road. On top of us the sky was having a full day with shades of orange and red. Amazing.
The trip back was quite fast (50 minutes) and we decided to have dinner first and then come to hotel after. As we have been in Split for two nights now we did not get lost and went to the Park Hotel which has a beautiful terrace outside. The live music on the piano was an added bonus for yet another beautiful day. For me one of the best we have had in this trip.
Tomorrow we have decided to stay one more day in Split and see the old town and spend some time in the spa at hotel, before we move on to Dubrovnik further south.
Posted by Armando
