Day Thirty - Jun 27, 2017
Split, Croatia
Daily Didactic
Our last full day in Split, and ninety degrees again, which by now we've stopped commenting on (for Alaskans this is theoretical). We started slow, dropped down through the laundry-strung courtyards of the old town for coffee, and watched a row of pigeons hold court over a cafe awning. The objective today was the Cathedral of St Domnius, which is the strange and excellent fact about Split: the Roman emperor Diocletian, who spent a good part of his retirement persecuting Christians, is buried in a mausoleum that is now a Christian cathedral. There is a thesis in there somewhere. Two tickets, forty-five kuna apiece. Inside it's dim and gold and crowded with reliquary tombs and a worn coat of arms set into the floor. We climbed the bell tower, which is the kind of open iron staircase that Brian's old enemy heights takes very personally; you do not look down between the landings. The payoff is the whole town in one view, red roofs running out to Marjan in the haze and the cruise ships parked along the harbor. We went underground after, into the cool vaulted cellars of the palace, which are essentially the basement of the entire town. Then a walk across Tuđman Square and out onto the Riva, a bus to Bene for a last swim and a couple of beers, and in the evening a wander up the Varoš alleys toward Botićevo as the first stars came out. A good way to end three good days.
Today's Photos
