Mostly Azure in Split


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Maybe you, dear readers, have had enough of Split, Croatia and especially Diocletian's Palace, but I have not. I might even go back again today.
Diocletian was the 51st Emperor of the Roman Empire and had the great idea to built a retirement palace in his home region of Dalmatia which is on the Adriatic Coast of Croatia today.


Diocletia and the Roman Legions defeated this group of peoples and that group of peoples and I don't think universal peace ever reined for very long. He received the Crown when the previous Emperor and son died in battle. He was positioned to take that crown and govern, aside from one bothersome son of the previous Emporer who laid claim to the crown. Diocletian made him an offer he could not refuse when he defeated and killed the son in battle.

           

There was a Co-Emperor and a Tetrarchy for awhile. Each succeeded and failed. But in the end, Diocletian after persecuting the Christians (though obviously not defeating them) retired to his Palace on the coast and tended his vegetable gardens until he died. He was the first Emperor to retire, assuming the other previous 50 Emperors "retired" in the manner of the statue below. It was a rough road to and from Absolute Power.


We went to avoid the morning crowds and see the temple, bell tower, crypt and museum. You could purchase one ticket for all or a la carte.....then at each section you had to show your ticket....unless the attendant was sitting over near some statuary smoking or deeply engrossed in their Facebook page.

        

This is a Roman Catholic country....remember yesterday's story about the Bishop of Nin who jettisoned Latin back in the 8th century.....using the Croatian language solidified both the church and the culture? I have seen more priests and nuns walking around here than I saw in Rome. Of course, in Rome, they were doing what all Romans do.....sit in curbside cafes and survey the crowds passing by.

                   
   

 Here I included an actual nun....I don't think she was hired by the Chamber of Commerce to lend atmosphere to the city....like the dressed up Roman Soldiers who pose for the tourists.


For the record, the Emperor to follow Diocletian was Constantine.....who converted himself and the empire to Christianity. Score one for the Christians.


We climbed the bell tower. Very dramatic and one of the least crowded stair climbs I have made. Lots of metal stairs....a vast improvement over some of the wooden, rickety stairs that I have experienced on other church towers. Here you see the tower shadow cast on the interior of the palace with its houses.


Keep in mind, this palace is not a Disney-esque palace. Over the years it has been destroyed and rebuilt and destroyed and forgotten and re-discovered. So, the basic parameters of the original palace are still here but parts are 500 years old and others 1000 and others 50 years and others 1700 years.

    

It is fascinating.


We left the old town in the early afternoon and walked toward the mountain? Hill? Not sure, but we climbed the stairs up and out of town to walk along the trail/road along the summit.

         

Here I am looking back at a small portion of Split with the Adriatic Sea on the right.....beyond those islands....a few hundred miles is Italy


We came upon this little, locked church on the road up. It was named St. Nicholas. He was persecuted by Diocletian (no one claimed Diocletian was a nice guy...visionary perhaps, but nice...no.) and saved when Constantine ascended to the Throne. Born in Turkey, persecuted in Croatia and buried in Bari, Italy. So Nicholas is greatly revered in this part of the world. Pretty much any geographical feature or building or church.....anything that does not move..... between Istanbul and Italy is named St. Nicholas.

     

An attractive, though sparse and locked up tight, church.

                     



It's something to ponder. And I will.


Peace,  Bob






















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