Tag: balkans

Diocletian’s Retirement Home

M's Adventures
The vestibule at 9 am in early May.

Diocletian was an emperor who managed to retire near his hometown, in modern day Croatia, and build a huge palace. He managed to abdicate. I am sort of fascinated by this. His palace is the old town of Split.

You can eat sort of like a Roman (they lay down).
Romans!

Now, Split is very famous because of Game of Thrones. I was not there for GOT so I enjoyed the Roman ruins without searching for dragons.

The cellars where the dragons are kept.

Apparently during peak season, the rows of tourists go in a conga line down the narrow streets, one row going in one direction, the other going in the opposite direction.

A lovely archway.

Perhaps ruined by tourism. But if you visit during off season and go in early in the morning, you will get the sites a bit more to yourself. Even the vomitorium. I went in search of it, but it was just a ruin.

This is one of the few extant Roman walls visible today.

Split reminds me of towns with marble lined streets in places like Apulia in southern Italy. I have a weakness for these white marble streets. I guess it makes it look clean. I did not see any trash but I also didn’t see any trash cans. But, I did see garbage collectors so I guess they do a continuous cleaning service? It should be noted that it poured and flooded while I was there adding a nice freshly washed look to the town.

One of many courtyard restaurants.

The old town of Split is quite small so you can see most of it in a day or so. But, that allows you time to settle in a cute cafe (maybe in a ridiculously photogenic courtyard) and enjoy some gourmet coffee. I was pleased to see that most restaurants stayed open all day from breakfast through to midnight.

Tourism makes up 18 percent of Croatia’s GDP. I can see why. Split is a lovely town, even with 75 percent tourists. There are other things to see and many experiences that are made special by the tourist machine. I was in the oculus when a choral group began to sing. Magical. When I told the receptionist at my hotel about this, she said that even though she lived in Split, she had never had that experience. Probably because she was working.

The oculus.
The chorus.

Again, to see the locals and how they live, get up early. Visit the market even though it is touristy. Maybe even visit the supermarket out in the edge of town. You might find some locals there. Or look in the fish market. I am fairly sure that no tourists go in there.

The fish market.

Having now seen Diocletian’s retirement home in person, I am even more impressed by his choice.

8,000 Years on the Danube

M's Adventures

Belgrade is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the world. There is so much history before the war thirty years ago and the Romans 2,000 years ago. Just imagine. I did not spend my time being much of a tourist so my photos were mostly taken from the car (I was there to visit a friend).

Belgrade has everything you would want in a modern capital city. The new waterfront is becoming a megapolis worthy of any big city.

I was here to catch up with friends. Luckily we did this while eating good food.

The food was good too. I ate at two of the best restaurants in town, Madera and Langouste. Madera has all the old world charm and lovely garden access to the central park, but Langouste has the view over the Sava river.

I will write about the food I had at Madera later. The food at Langouste was French, of a sort.

The one thing that made Belgrade an unattractive city was the smoking. Smoking is even allowed indoors.

Luckily, you can easily get out to the fresh air of the countryside from Belgrade.