Time to Split Croatia

We haven't forgotten about the blog, internet access has been a little more challenging of late. When we do get access our time is consumed finding somewhere to stay in Venice & Florence.

Our last day in Croatia was spent in the seaside town of Split. Like many of the towns we have visited, it's a medieval port with tiny cobbled streets; but Split is unique in that the whole town is built from the ruins of Roman Emperor Diocletian’s palace.

Here you see some of the remaining aspects of the original palace. On top is the domed entrance vestibule that opened to a plaza. Below, check out the small Sphinx in the backround, one of several he brought back from conquests in Egypt. Most of the original palace has been turned into homes over the last thousand years, but the real treasure lies below the streets. Much of the basement for the palace still exists, so for a small fee we were able to walk around under the town as well. Here the servants would build, cook, and generally run the palace from underneath, but on a massive scale. Here you can see us inside one of the underground chambers where wine and olives were pressed.

In the evening grabbed the kids and made the trek to the ferry terminal. We are not talking BC Ferry service here. It was more like a retro cruise ship really. We had a cabin with shower and beds, restaurant, and a 70’s theme bar……. hang on I think it just hasn’t been redone since the 70’s. Smooth sailing all night and at 7am we arrived in Ancona ITALY!