Let's Split!

In 2008 I did a little tour of Croatia with some lovely friends as a last hurrah before moving back to Australia from the UK.  Split was our first port of call and I have to say all I really remembered was that it was hot.  

It was August after all.

This time we had a a local guide who was just fantastic!  His name is Oliver Nejašmić and if you're ever find yourself in Split..... look him up here.  He was informative and funny and everything you want in a guide, and beats the hell out of going on a big group tour!

Oliver took us into the Diocletian Emporer's Palace to have a look at the fabulously preserved buildings dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries.  

Including a dining area where the Emperor and his nobilities would eat and eat for hours and hours.  When they got too full, they would go into the adjoining 'vomitorium', a room where the poor slave who drew the short straw for that day would have to use a feather to tickle the throats of the glutenous hierarchy until they vomited.  Once they'd purged, they could head back into the dining room to gorge themselves some more.  I wonder what century this sort of practice was phased out?

The Diocletian Emperor thought of himself as a bit of a God 

and from what I can tell thought he was entitled to just take whatever he wanted from wherever!   For example, this sphinx from Eqypt.  Admittedly, not an easy thing to hide in your luggage, and would generally be nigh on impossible to get through customs, but he was the Emperor and I guess that comes with a few perks.

He built his palace in gold and decorated it with large impressive statues to give his visitors the "Wow Factor" when they entered.

He was also not a fan of the Christians and had a had quite a few killed in his time, including two saints.  He was fair though, he gave the Christians an ultimatum.  They could either renounce the Christianity and start to make sacrifices to the Roman Gods or they could be killed.

He eventually died and was buried in his church that he had built in the middle of the palace so that everyone could still go and worship him even after he was dead (very thoughtful of him!)  But after Christianity made a come back, they threw his bones out moved the bones of the two murdered saints back in, so you could say that the saints had the last laugh.

They also dismantled his tomb and used it to build this pulpit.  The purple marble you can see on the corner was from the Emperor's original tomb.

Whilst walking around the church with Oliver we stopped in front of this alter whilst he told his story.  There was a step up, so we were standing a respectable distance back so everyone could have a look and this lady crab walked in-between us and the step to have a look.  

Honestly.... where do these people come from?

Underneath the church is the crypt where they keep this statue of Saint Lucia, the Patron Saint of Sight.  She holds this creepy bowl of eye balls and people write notes for her praying for good sight.....

However, somebody was obviously a bit confused at what they were meant to do here and asked Saint Lucia for France to win the World Cup.

Split has some pretty cool streets..... including this one -

The smallest / shortest street in Europe (apparently) called "Let Me Pass Street"

And these two streets from Game of Thrones!  From the scenes where Kahleesi orders the slaves to kill their masters..... Very exciting!

There's also this cool little street of steps that has been made into a cool person cafe.  Check out the guy in the white t-shirt.... can you be more relaxed having your coffee?

There's also one of the very first post boxes put in during Napoleon's rule.  I love that all these olde worldy things have been kept from being destroyed and I think it's a nice touch that they've kept the French writing.  They have blocked up the letter slot though..... I can just imagine what was being posted!  

Klapa is a form of traditional a cappella singing in Dalmatia and it is so old and so good that it is covered by UNESCO.

The word 'klapa' translates as 'a group of friends'

The Klapa group consists of a first tenor, a second tenor, a baritone and a bass, and it is possible to double up on the number of singers.  It is mainly men who make up the groups, but there have been few lady groups popping up.  Men and women don't mix though to make an Abba style group.

Even though klapa is a cappella music, on occasion it is possible to add a gentle guitar or a mandolin or a synthesiser and maybe some percussion.

The klapa groups play at festivals and Croatia even entered a group into the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.

This chap on the right was standing right behind the last singer on the right and was singing along with them making us think that he was part of the group or perhaps training with them or something..... but we saw him again later watching the gladiator performance, so probably not.

There are a couple of groups that sing around Split in the old palace and they sound amazing.  We saw one group during a tour, so we only got to listen to them briefly, then we thought we would pop up to the other group after the tour was finished, but when we got there, this is what we found.... blokes sitting around around smoking and when we asked one man if they would be sining again soon, he sighed and looked around and said, "Maybe when a big tour group comes."  I tried to reason that we were a tour group of 2, but he wasn't amused.

So we sat and waited (with a glass of wine, we are civilised folk you know), thinking that a big group would have to come along soon - they were everywhere!  Then as luck would have it, about 15 minutes later, a tour guide asked in Croatian if they were going to sing... I'm so fluent in Croatian now that I understood her, but I'm clearly not fluent enough to understand their answer, because we thought they were going to do a 'set' so got all set up to listen to them and they sang one very short song and then all sat down and lit up their fags again.

Very disappointing.

At 12 o'clock every day, in the main square of the palace, these guys dress up and do a bit where Caesar and his wife welcome everyone to the palace.  It lasts  about 5-6 minutes.... the crowd love it.

The night we were in Split, Croatia was playing against Mexico in the World Cup.  Normally I don't care too much about the World Cup, but the fact that we were here and the atmosphere was all pretty exciting, we relented and watched the game.  Our hotel we were staying in was right on the People's Square and our room's windows were right above the restaurant/bar downstairs where lots of dressed up patriotic Croats were cheering on their team and country.

However, it wasn't to be.... as we all know by now, Mexico trounced Croatia 3-1 and the People's Square went silent.  As we looked out the window people were milling around with their heads down and walking home as if nothing had happened.  There might have been a couple of people who looked like this as well!