WELCOME TO
SPLIT
Without hiding their
pride, the people of Split will tell you that their city is "the
most beautiful one in the world and beyond". You'd better not
discuss this with them for well spirited Split will convince you in
this as soon as you discover it! This for ever young city with the
population of about 200,000 that give it its warm Mediterranean
temper, has lived its urban rhythm for as long as 1700 years, with
its heart in the Diocletian's Palace and its soul widespread to
embrace you.
Ever since the life of the city protected by the UNESCO and
entered into the register of the World Cultural Heritage has been
wrifing the history of this unique capital of Dalmatia.
POSITION AND NATURAL
CHARACTERISTICS
The city of Split is
situated in the warmest region of the northern Mediterranean coast,
in the very centre of the Adriatic eastern coast and in the
immediate vicinity of the rivers Jadro and Žrnovnica that have been
watering it for 1700 years. Its mild climate, with 2700 sunny hours
per year, makes it an oasis where, sheltered from the wind, one can
enjoy the sun even in wintertime. The industrial, university, and
business centre of the region nourishes its "green soul" on the hill
Marjan situated in the westernmost part of the peninsula. Its
forested park infringed by the city and the sea offers pleasant
walks away from the city noise under the pines by the
sea.
HOW TO REACH
SPLIT
The city at the foot of
Marjan can be reached by The Adriatic Coastal Road, winding by the
sea or by hinterland roads connected to Split. It will take you 5
hours to get to Zagreb and 4 hours to get to Dubrovnik in your car.
You can also reach Split if you get on a coast ferry liner from
Rijeka or Dubrovnik, from all central Dalmatian islands. There are
excellent fast and regular ferry lines from Ancona and Pescara,
Italy. From the Airport Split flights connect the city witb Zagreb
several times a day, as well as with European capitals. There are
also trains from Split to the north of the country and further on to
Europe. You can transport your car by train, as well.
THE HISTORY OF
SPLIT
The first inhabitant of
Split was the Roman emperor Diocletian who started to build his
palace in this triendly bay around 293 AD. After his abdication he
withdrew to this luxurious palace of about 30 thousand square
meters. The following turbulent centuries made the palace into a
town first populated by the citizens of the nearby Salona, fleeing
before Avars and Slavs. The town overgrew the walls of the palace
and its authorities kept changing-from Croatian kings in lOth
century AD, Hungarian and Venetian administration, to French rulers
and Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
Such past left its traces combined in the town everyday life.
The city, however, went on remaining the centre of this part of the
coast till our day. This mixture of historic layers brought some
clumsiness and some things done too fast but today all that makes a
part of its originality. The big city today lives by the silent
beats of history, lively spirit of the young and its particular
Mediterranean charm.
THE CULTURAL OFFER in this
city-museum is an endless story leading from the streets in which
history lives with the breath of the present. There are museums,
galleries and spaces where, for a moment, you can feel as a
participant of the famous centuries the traces of which you are
following with your steps.
ACCOMMODATION
Beside the city hotels or outskirts ones, there are
great possibilities of comfortable accommodation in luxuriously
furnished and fitted family houses and apartments.
GASTRONOMY
Wherever you go during your tourist or business stay in
Split, look for a good konoba (wine cellar) or fish restaurant,
where fruit of the sea and sea food dishes will offer an
unforgettable joy to all your senses. Don't forget genuine Dalmatian
brandies-lozovača and travarica to start with. After such aperitif,
be sure to taste Dalmatian pršut (smoke-andwind-dried ham),
salted sardines or cheese kept in oil, roast or boiled lamb,
pašticada s njokima (stewed beef served in Dalmatian gravy sauce
with noodles). The dishes are nicely followed by famous red (Dingač,
Postup, Faros, Babić) and white (Pošip, Maraština, Grk, Bogdanuša)
wines.
Make your meal sweet with rožata (Dalmatian pudding) or
kroštule (traditional fried pastry) and make a toast to it all with
sweet desert wine prošek, a result of grapes and the sun.
SPORT -
RECREATION
Split is a city of sport and the spirit of sport, its mild
climate offering the possibility of outdoor recreation throughout
the year. You can relax playing tennis, basketball, valley ball, and
football. You can go swimming in indoor pools, go sailing or rowing
in calm coves not far from the city. You can climb the rocks of
Marjan, enjoy trim-tracks of the Marjan Forest, ride a bicycle,
rollerskate...
EXCURSIONS
Few cities can offer such variety of entertainment and
excursions in their closest surroundings as Split. At the very
entrance to the city there are ruins of the ancient Salona, once the
capital of the Roman province Dalmatia and the biggest
archaeological locality on the eastern Adriatic coast. Just a bit
further away stands the town of Trogir, entered in the UNESCO
register of the World Cultural Heritage, which two-millennium-old
history is woven in modern life of this town-museum. North of Split,
on the way to Sinj, rises the fortress of Klis. It was built to
defend this region from the Turkish invasion. Having passed the
fortress you enter the hinterland that offers the possibility to
enjoy in riding, rafting and canoeing down the white waters of the
Cetina River. There are three big Marian shrines only 30 km away
from Split dedicated to Our Miraculous Lady of Sinj, Our Little Lady
of Solin and the shrine at Vepric. The world famous shrine Medugorje
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is 130 km away from Split.
If you set off to the sea, the routs will take you to Hvar,
Brać, Vis. These are the islands of rich history and tradition,
unique beauty and natural phenomena. One of them is the sea cave
Modra špilja on the island of Biševo, where the sunrays break
turning the sea into blue silver.
SHOPPING - There are a lot of shops, department stores and a
range of small authentic galleries, souvenir and antique shops in
the alleys within the walls of the Palace. In the middle of the
summer these tiny streets stay in the shade coolness of stone walls.
You can find huge shopping centres at the outskirts of the
city.
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