Diocletian’s Palace, bell tower views, and the most delicious focaccia sandwiches!
Split was one of those places I really didn’t know much about before our cruise. I’ll be honest, I was a little concerned it might be one of those tourist trap ports where you don’t see much unless you’re on an organized excursion.
We had decided not to plan an organized day this time… just get off the ship and see where our feet took us.
Boy, was I wrong!
The waterfront was absolutely beautiful, and as we started exploring, we discovered we were walking through Diocletian’s Palace – an ancient Roman palace that’s now a living, breathing part of the city. And it’s where they filmed parts of Game of Thrones, which is pretty cool! We had stumbled into this incredible piece of history completely by accident.
We only had a short time in Split, but it was plenty of time to really explore and fall in love with this place.
One of the highlights was climbing the bell tower.
I’ll admit, it was a little scary at first! When you start climbing, it’s this very narrow, tight stairwell with these unnaturally high steps that had me wondering what I’d gotten myself into. But thankfully, it was only like that for the first couple of flights, then it opened up and became much more manageable.
And oh my goodness, the view from the top was absolutely worth every scary step!
You get this incredible aerial view of Split with all those gorgeous red-tiled roofs, the sparkling harbor, and the whole layout of this ancient city spread out below you.
We even had some friendly seagulls posing for photos up there!
For lunch, we had a recommendation from my oldest son’s girlfriend – her friends had just been in Split the week before and told us about this amazing place called Focaccina Sandwich Bar. Nothing fancy, but exactly what we needed!
I got this incredible sandwich on fresh focaccia bread with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and some greens. It was so simple but absolutely delicious – one of those perfect travel meals where every bite just hits the spot.
We spent our time wandering the ancient streets, doing a little souvenir shopping, and just soaking in the atmosphere of this incredible city where ancient Roman history meets modern Croatian life. Walking through those palace walls that are over 1,700 years old, but still bustling with shops, restaurants, and people going about their daily lives – it was pretty amazing.
Split turned out to be such a wonderful surprise and definitely one of those places that made me think, “I need to come back here someday and spend more time exploring Croatia.”
What started as our shortest port stop became one of our most memorable discoveries!
Recent Comments