Split

Wow, what a place!

Split started out as the retirement palace for the Roman Emperor Diocletian, the only emperor who retired peacefully (and much better known for his persecution of early Christians and whose tomb is now a cathedral).  It went from palace to town in the sixth century, when the
nearby city of Solona was threatened by barbarian Slavs and the Romanized citizens fled behind the walls of the palace.  Split then expanded over time, becoming a Venetian outpost against the Turks and surrounded by further fortifications in the 15th and again in the 17th centuries.

When I got here last night my room wasn't ready yet (the person who made my reservation had to continue working at the reception desk until later), so I dropped off my bags and went for a nice long wander.  As I was making my first explorations, hungry from the passage from Dubrovnik, I found the temple to Jupiter (now a church) and, tucked behind it, the Pizzeria Fortuna.  Their pizza was very good (helped by my being very hungry), and my mother will be overjoyed to know that I devoured a mixed salad with gusto.

This is a crazy, crazy place.  As someone who loves Roman ruins and medieval cities I'm in heaven, since the medieval city is ensconced inside the bounds of a massive Roman ruin (but incorporating the ruin more than superceding it like at Palestrina).  Because space inside the walls was at a premium the streets are incredibly narrow, making the winding alleys of Genoa seem spacious by comparison.

I have been overjoyed to take advantage of the luxuries of my lodging - I'm staying in what would normally be rented as a 2-4 person apartment (paying slightly more than I'd like but incredibly little considering the place).  I splurged on vegetables, pasta, and olive oil and spent a good portion of my Friday evening in the kitchen making a dish I've been fantasizing about for weeks (veggies are hard to enjoy on the road so the opportunity to sautee them in olive oil can't be missed). I also picked up a pound of fresh (as in still struggling) shrimp at the fish market.  I'd originally intended to use them as ingredients in the main dish, but they were so incredibly delicious that they served as the appetizer instead.

I've had a great experience here so far, and the fact that the busking went pretty well is the cherry on top!  I'm about to board a ferry back to Italy, where I'll be spending four days using Florence as a home base while I try performing in two or three nearby cities, searching for the elusive Tuscan busking pitch.  Croatia has been an intense and rather humbling experience in a lot of ways; I'm really eager to perform in a language I speak again.  While my meagre Croatian skills, augmented by the thorough English skills of the local populace, did the trick it was still a little awkward.

Pictures are coming, unfortunately narrow and twisting lanes aren't particularly photogenic.  I'll be wifi connected in Florence so I hope to keep a little more in touch next week!