Split

Driving to Split for a two-night stay after a nice stay at a country hotel with "fine" dining.
Neat clouds, created by mountain wave winds.

It's a Flying Saucer!

Our first view of the Adriatic Sea (at least since we were in Venice a few years ago).

Surf's up, Croatian style.

Now entering Split - a typical city/town entry - first we see the new, before we settle into the old.

Dinner is served, at the brewery pub, best ribs I've had in some time; Gerri's veggie burger wasn't too shabby either.

Truly an American cultural influenced kind of place.  The craft beer was nicely done as well.

The next morning, our walking tour begins, with a look down the street at what appears to be cruise ships, but in fact are numerous large car ferries.

Old walls of the fortressed area:

We grab a quick "walking" breakfast, before continuing.

"Gregory of Nin was a medieval bishop of Nin who strongly opposed the Pope and introduced the Croatian language in religious services after 926 A.D. Until that time, services were held only in Latin, not being understandable to a majority of the population. Not only was this important for Croatian language and culture, but it also made Christianity stronger within the Croatian kingdom."

How it all used to look, the Palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian upon completion in 305 A.D.

Down in the basement under part of the palace - Game of Thrones fans should recognize this place as the setting where Danarys raised her dragons to adulthood.

Definitely some Venetian influence here and there.

An almost, but not quite, hokey skit of Roman stuff appears in a small square in the palace area.

What's going on here?  We're in the catacomb under the old church in the palace area.

Ah, everyone's getting a good photo of the Patron Saintess of healthy eyesight.

We can see this tower quite clearly today.

There's Gregory of Nin again - he's a big guy around here.

We cut through the market to get an orientation of the car ferry set-up for our drive aboard tomorrow to head southward along the Dalmation coast tomorrow.

One of these boats will be ours tomorrow - we see where we'll drive along the wharf and look for our island name.

Now we head back along the water front to climb up for a far view.

We go from seeing ancient buildings built of thousands of bricks, to modern reinforced monoliths.

After a bit of a climb, we're at a scenic overlook.

An awesome patio, tree-house-like, is seen as we head back down to the old town.

An especially elegant street, paved in shining marble.

We've been seeing corn on the cob stands around Croatia - here's another example.

Here's an ancient looking olive tree - for some reason it's potted like a Christmas tree.

More Venetian structures.

A relief type sculpture, with weathering making it look more 3-dimensional that it actually is.

"In the middle of the Shabbat prayer on June 12, 1942, a group of fascists destroyed the synagogue, Jewish homes and nearby Jewish shops.  They burned and looted Jewish centuries-old heritage in this place.  It was not forgotten and it will not be repeated!, City of Split, June 12, 2018."