|
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.
|
