Hvar isn’t all that pretty. On the other hand, the wine tasting we had in a family's cellar was very generous - four of us had three bottles of wine on the table and could drink all we wanted. That was before the grappa came out - locally distilled brandy with herbs to conceal the taste.
Midday we cruised to nearby Split, the biggest town in Dalmatia and the second largest city in Croatia, with roughly 250,000 population. We overnighted there last night and this morning had a walking tour of Diocletian’s palace which is right on the waterfront.
Roman emperor Diocletian was born here of humble parentage, joined the army, became a kick-ass general and eventually took over the empire after killing the then-emperor. Instead of waiting to be killed himself, he retired to his birthplace, built an amazing palace on the waterfront, and lived out his life. Or so we were told, I’m no expert on Roman empire politics.
Midday we cruised to nearby Split, the biggest town in Dalmatia and the second largest city in Croatia, with roughly 250,000 population. We overnighted there last night and this morning had a walking tour of Diocletian’s palace which is right on the waterfront.
Roman emperor Diocletian was born here of humble parentage, joined the army, became a kick-ass general and eventually took over the empire after killing the then-emperor. Instead of waiting to be killed himself, he retired to his birthplace, built an amazing palace on the waterfront, and lived out his life. Or so we were told, I’m no expert on Roman empire politics.
The palace was turned into dwellings over the centuries and now hundreds of people live within the walls, in a variety of homes, apartments, etc. that they own. A lot of the dwellings were bombed out during the second World War and not rebuilt. Instead they cleared out important parts of the original palace which we can now see, and it is darned impressive. After the palace tour, we sat on the waterfront having a cold drink and looking at a façade that is at least 1700 years old.
Driving out of town we saw a beautiful Roman aqueduct still standing roughly two thousand years later. It was a work of art, perfectly proportioned in well-cut stone. Our normally excellent guide took it so much for granted that she failed to point it out to us, until we asked, whereupon she acknowledged it to be Roman. The Romans were some engineers.
