Split is the second-largest city of Croatia and the largest city of the region of Dalmatia, it lies on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Spread over a central peninsula and its surroundings, Split's greater area includes the neighbouring seaside towns as well.
Split was founded in the 4th or 3rd century BC. Founded as the Greek colony of Aspalathos in the 1st century BC. The settlement took place from Issa, today's Vis, which has been inhabited since 367 BC had gained autonomy from the mother city of Syracuse and now founded its own colonies.
The Roman settlement of Salona is located in the north of the city. The most important building there is the arena, which is now unfortunately almost destroyed.
Diocletian's Palace is incorrectly considered to be the nucleus of today's city of Split. Emperor Diocletian had it built around 300. After his death around 312 and that of his wife Prisca (probably 315), the Roman Empire used the palace as an administrative headquarters, barracks and as a production facility (textile production in a gynaeceum) for the military apparatus, which was increasingly switching to self-sufficiency in the face of the ailing economy.
Split is one of the oldest cities in the area. While traditionally considered just over 1,700 years old, counting from the construction of Diocletian's Palace in 305 CE, the city was in fact founded as the Greek colony of Aspálathos in the 4th century BC. It became a prominent settlement around 650 CE, when it succeeded the ancient capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, Salona: as after the Sack of Salona by the Avars and Slavs, the fortified Palace of Diocletian was settled by the Roman refugees.
Our time at the Klis fortress was so long that we decided to drive to the ruined city of Salona as dusk was already approaching. As usual, loaded with a lot of information along the way, we returned to Solin and stopped at the ruins of the Roman amphitheatre, which, at least on the ground floor, were excavated and left an extremely impressive impression on us.
As is unfortunately the case too often, this time our time window was too narrow, so we were only able to take a short tour of the amphitheatre in Salona. Nevertheless, we were deeply impressed by what we were to see in the immediate vicinity of Split: the remains of the monumental amphitheatre building from Roman times.
Already during our first, short visit to the ruined city of Salona, Robi mentioned the name of an archaeologist who was responsible for the excavations in Split, who we would meet several times during the further course of our stay: Frane Bulić.
After the really informative and family-oriented days with the Bralic family in Solin, the extensive visit to Diocletian's Palace, the Roman aqueduct and the ancient ruins of Salona, we continue our tour along Roman roads towards Lake Ohrid in Macedonia.
During our visit to Diocletian's Palace in Split, Robert had already told us about the water supply shortages in the ancient city of Solin.
We were able to spend unforgettable days with Robi and his family in Split. Not only did we find an excellent host and tour guide in Robi, but the so-called family connection with his wife and children was very warm and profound despite the few days which was shown again and again in small gifts, shared morning coffee and also in conversations.
Early the next morning we drove into Split with Robi, because we were finally going to the well-known old town of Split and to Diocletian's Palace, which actually forms the nucleus of today's city of Split.
The first point of our sightseeing program was scheduled early the next morning, which was to lead to the castle and fortress of Klis. The fortress has always played a crucial role in the eventful history of Split and the surrounding area, as it was the first place to pass if you wanted to get from the hinterland to the coast.
For several years now, Split has been a popular summer tourism destination in Croatia again, but our travel points with Salona, Klis Castle and Deocletian's Palace in Split were significantly removed from it, and not just seasonally.
We had learned and appreciated Robert and his team as part of our project journey "A journey of Intimacy and Culture along the Roman Roads" and within his conception to the creation of a truly genuine archaeological cultural tourism so far hardly explored environment in cooperation with the competent authorities, organizations, museums and archaeologists as new perspective for obtaining cultural property that can really create new ways.
For several days, we now dwell in the region around the ancient Salona, take part in the archaeological excavations in Siculi, a first excavation carried out with archeology tourists within an excavation project, which we will continue to support.
During our second visit to Solin we were again visiting the ancient ruins of Salona near Split together with Robi, this time our main focus was directed to Porta Caesarea and to the still existing parts of the Roman Road in front of the remains of the city gate including the Roman bridge.
