(Split, Croatia)

Split has a different feel from most of the other places I’ve visited on this trip.  It receives a large number of tourists (primarily day visitors on cruise ships), but the old city is not the exclusive domain of visitors.  The residents of Split still celebrate their downtown and their love for their city is apparent…particularly in the evening, when they completely reclaim it for themselves.

It’s fun to be in a real city again.   You can find record stores (always a plus for me!) and other hallmarks of a city that is not entirely given over to tourism.   There are also restaurants in the downtown area that locals can actually recommend.  You’d think this would be true anywhere, but the sobe operator in Dubrovnik had a very hard time coming up with recommendations for me.   Other travellers told the same story:  eating in Dubrovnik is a necessity but not necessarily a pleasure.

Now that I’ve entered the third week of this trip, I find the realness of Split appealing.  In a way, it’s like being back in Sarajevo.  There were some tourists there but at night the streets were filled with Sarajevans.  As I prepare for my return to Canada in a few days, I am craving that reality more than I did at the beginning of this trip.

Split does have a “wow” factor to attract all those day tourists, of course.  The core of the old city is the massive Diocletian’s Palace, which the former Roman Emperor had built as his retirement home.   While it used to be a stand-alone structure, it eventually began to crumble and local residents began to build over parts of it.  As a result, parts of the original structure still stand (especially the external walls) but other parts have been creatively adapted into new streetscapes.

My soba is located within Diocletian’s Palace, although the upper floors of the building are obviously from a later era.  However, the foundation (and probably other parts as well) is Roman.  In some places, the city has different tiers:  streets go in different directions, depending on how high above the original palace you are.  It’s fascinating to see how nearly 2,000 years of history can collide in such a small space.

Only two full days remain in this trip.  I hope to see the nearby town of Trogir…and then it’s time for a very quick tour of one of Europe’s great capital cities!