We met our guide
Verdran (arranged by Mate from Private Guide Split). For $90 Euros, Verdran
showed us around Diocletian’s Palace on a 2-hour walking tour.
The city of Split
draws its name from a common shrub in the area called the spiny broom. The
Greeks first founded Split as a replacement for their previous capital of
Salona. In 1979, the historic center of Split was included on the UNESCO list
of World Heritage Sites because of its architectural preservation. Old Town
Split is home to Diocletian's Palace, built for the Roman emperor in 305 BC.
The palace had more than 200 buildings
and 3,000 residents within an 8-acre enclosed space. In fact, the “palace” is a
mini-city of its own, full of a maze of stone pedestrian pathways and
passageways that lead to a Romanesque belfry, a 16th-century synagogue,
courtyards, squares, shops, restaurants, lodging, and apartment homes. Old Town
Split contains some of the most impressive Roman ruins in the world, including
the Cathedral of St. Domnius (filled with murals, altars, and a steep bell
tower that we climbed), and the Temple of Jupiter (guarded by a headless black
granite sphinx from Egypt).
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