Spalato

“It is possible to enter Split by land, to get out of a train in the ordinary way, to call a taxi and to drive to one’s chosen hotel. But no one who values first impressions, no one who wishes to add to his small total of Things Seen As They Were, should miss the sensation of coming to Split by the inland sea of Salona. No traveller, I suppose, however bored he may be with the luxury trip on which he has embarked, or with the thought of how much more interesting and exciting will be the sights that he expects to see the week after next, but will feel his heart beat a trifle faster in response to his first sight of Diocletian’s palace, as he draws nearer to its very steps. […]. Even now a thousand years later, defaced and defiled with all the petty meannesses of modern buildings and daily life, its vast proportions and its solid contruction strike wonder and amazement into us (pp. 111-112).

How should one enter Split so that a never-to-be-forgotten impression may remain? […]. At whatever time the first traveller arrives and by whatever means, I would say, ‘Go in by the strait gate for it leads, though by devious ways, to the heart of things’. This should bring you into the Peristyle, now the Trg, or principal square of the town (pp. 114-115). There is so much to see, pictures, museums, narrow streets just squeezed in ‘anyhow’ between the columns of the original palace. There are the three gates, the Porta Aurea much as the great man left it; there are markets, both within and without the walls. Split is the capital of the Province of Dalmatia. Indeed Split has, as has been remarked, ‘All the amenities of modern life: shops, cafés and finally a popular bathing-beach’, as well as is well provided with such facilities for the study of life in Roman times. There is always the sea-front and the jolly boats laden with multi-coloured fruits, in their season, with flowers and with chattering country-folk bringing their pigs to market (p. 118)”.