Our morning began with the reverse journey down cobblestone lanes with our luggage through Dubrovnik Old Town streets, through the Pile Gate and finding a taxi to take us back to the airport where we picked up our rental car. After a lot of paperwork, questions and explanations we acquired the keys. The car was a 6 speed manual transmission, which Joe preferred, and I was very glad the luggage fit, rather snugly, and that I had no plans to get behind the wheel. This was our first attempt at navigating via our GPS through my phone and it worked wonderfully!
The beginning of our journey took us back through Dubrovnik and small seaside towns on narrow roads until we reached the A1 freeway. The “freeway” has toll booths along the way and we quickly learned how to zip through using our credit card. We also crossed briefly from Croatia to Bosnia and back to Croatia, which meant going through border crossings and acquiring a few more stamps in the passports. Between GPS and our handy Michelin paper map, we approached Split in about 3 hours with no problems.
Split is the second largest city in Croatia and our first impression from the freeway was of an industrial/commercial seaport and city sprawl. As we ventured further into the city, the roads narrowed and Joe likened it to driving in Ann Arbor where young people jump in front of your car with no clue that there are vehicles flying by in all directions. I took just a little offense to the A2 jab. We had reservations at the Hotel Luxe with parking on the street (alley) directly behind. This turned out to be more of a challenge than anticipated as the left 2/3’s of the alley was already filled with parked cars, which left just enough room to pass our vehicle “slowly” along cringing that we were going to lose our mirror or a least leave some paint along the stone walls. Another traveler recommendation……get the smallest car possible when renting!!!
After checking into the hotel we ventured down to the City Harbor, Riva and a visit to what is left of the Diocletian’s Palace. I had been to Split a little over 40 years ago and was anticipating change, but was overwhelmed by the level of commercial trinkets & trash type vendor stalls and quirky pirate boat charters. I was grateful that the view from the harbor back to the Riva was still intact.
Emperor Diocletian’s Palace however was definitely worth the trip. We entered from the Brass Gate which is actually the back of the Palace and faces the harbor. From there we walked down a few steps into the cellars with large stone pillars, arches, olive presses and artifacts.
From the cellars we headed up to the center square of the Palace know as the Peristyle and then directly to our right was the Cathedral of St. Dominus. Originally a 4th century mausoleum, it was converted to a church after the fall of the Roman Empire. The 13th century bell tower, which can be seen from the harbor, had an incredible view after climbing it’s 183 steps (my acrophobia was well under control until the descent!)
After catching my breath from the tower, we ventured down into the crypts and then across from the Peristyle into Jupiter’s Temple. A couple step up from the center square is the entry vestibule where we were lucky enough to hear an acapella traditional dalmatian singing group. It brought tears to my eyes and my heart was very full with memories of many family gatherings listening to my Grandfather, Uncles , extended family and friends singing in the same way.
We finished the day with cocktails and a light dinner overlooking the harbor. making plans for our departure in the morning for a drive up to Zadar.