2025-05-19 Split
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We drove all the way to Split, visited the old town and what remains
of Diocletians palace, had lunch and then we went walking through
Marjan forest park. Wonderfully quiet.

On the way to the city center, I spotted a passion flower. So
beautiful. They look like cosmic spaceships or psychedelic temples in
miniature.

Blaue Passionsblume
Passiflora caerulea

a flower with an complex, three-dimensional structure in the middle

The marina in front of the old town. Half the old town is within the
perimeter of Diocletian's palace.

The water is dirty and smells bad.

a marina with small boats and a boulevard with palm trees

They turned Diocletian's mausoleum into the cathedral.

Claudia near the bell tower of the cathedral, with tourists in the
back looking up a the bell tower from a nearby ruin with an open
cupola, the bell tower can still be seen Split's old town is full of
narrow alleys there is an open pit where you can see into the cellar
ruins of Diocletian's palace looking back at the bell tower

There are places where you can see two levels of cellars and three or
four levels of buildings. This is how I like my dungeon ruins. 😄

looking into another pit with access to underground levels

What impressed me the most is that people live in the midst of these
fantastic ruins.

extremely narrow alleys and suddenly, a private garden and ruins,
and tourists

We went into the cathedral. It's a small octagonal building because it
used to be Diocletions tomb. I was not impressed.

looking up at the ceiling

Looking back over the corner with the carden (to the left) and the low
walls from where one could peek into the cellars.

a view of Diocletian's palace with tourist milling about ruins of
walls with niches more narrow alleys

We had enough after a while, had a small lunch and decided to head
into the Marjan forest park. The stairs up start in the old town.

Claudia on marble stairs looking at Split's old town from the stairs

Barbary fig
Opuntia ficus-indica

a yellow flower on a cactus

Stechendes Sternauge
Pallenis spinosa

yellow flowers and spiny leaves

Dry stone walls everywhere. Later there was even an info board talking
about dry stone wall building.

some tall corniferous trees behind a dry stone wall

The trail from the end of the stairs to Sedlow is wide, flat, and
beautiful.

Claudia on a nice walkway

Johannisbrotbaum
Ceratonia siliqua

thick, saussage-like beans hanging on a tree

The nice walkway turns into a trail.

a trail along a dry wall with trees off to the side providing no shade
 the trail continues and still the trees provide no shade

The trail gets narrower and we start thinking of ticks again.

a singletrail with grass and bushes growing nearby; some sort of info
panel in the distance

Damaszener Schwarzkümmel
Nigella damascena

a blue flower with a complex network of antenna-like protrusions

A view of a hidden sandy (?) beach.

trees in the foreground and the sea in the back

We walked back along the coast and looked up. Our trail was somewhere
behind this cliff.

a forested hill and while cliffs at the top

In the evening we went for pizza and pasta.

a marina by night

#Croatia #Pictures