split decision

I've finally gotten around to sifting through my Split photos. Here's a selection, with associated commentary...

We took the train from Rome to Ancona, and an overnight ferry to Split. That meant we arrived bright and early, at about 7 AM, with a full day of seeing the city.



Here's a shot of center-city Split. The old town is formed out of the palace of the emperor Diocletian, who was a local boy, from the neighboring city of Salona. When he got done reorganizing the empire after the chaos of the third century (no small accomplishment, setting up a new order that lasted until a guy called Constantine came along and mixed things up again), he retired (also no small accomplishment) to a massive palace he built on the coast in 305. The row of buildings that face the water (behind the palm trees) are built out of the front wall of his palace.



Here's a closer view, from the Riva, the pedestrian boulevard that runs in front of the palace. You can see how the colonnade has been blocked up as the wall was turned into houses. (And people are hanging their laundry between the columns. That makes me giggle.) I was pretty excited to see this; it's something I've wanted to visit ever since I took a fateful Roman archaeology class, fall term freshman year.

The red awning, by the way, belongs to the restaurant Bobis, a bar/cafe with great pastries.



The peristyle of the palace has become one of the central squares of the city.



Croatian food-- or at least Dalmatian food-- is pretty good. We had a lot of seafood (they bring out a tray of fish and you pick the one you want), and there's a strong Italian influence on the cuisine. Risotto? Yup (we had a very solid seafood risotto, in particular.) What's the word for bean soup? Fazul! That sort of thing.

Strangely enough, there are relatively few restaurants in Split. Every corner had a couple of "bar/caffe" type-places, where people would go to drink coffee or beer, but you'd never see them actually eating anything there. And there were plenty of fast-food restaurants, but not so many for sit-down eating.

Still, we found a couple of good restaurants, our favorite being Konoba Varos, just west of the old town. Great fish (especially a fish carpaccio), terrific grilled meats, and a fine rendition of... um, er, a traditional Dalmatian dish whose name I can't remember. But it involved braising veal in wine, and it was great. A slow food extravaganza, though: I think we spent three and a half hours at dinner.

The photo above isn't from Konoba Varos; I picked it to show three local specialties. That's octopus salad, lightly marinated with some basic vegetables (onion, celery), Dalmatian ham (aka prsut, softer and smokier than prosciutto), and a cheese from Pula, up the coast. Slightly tangy, slightly nutty, like a mix between cheddar and pecorino.