Time for a break in one of Split’s squares
In a large square we watched re-enactors dressed as Roman soldiers posing for pictures in front of the buildings.
The next square was surrounded by bars and restaurants and we joined the busy outside area of one of them and ordered drinks.
Here’s one of the electric delivery trucks in the square.
We retraced our steps to the gate that we had entered the old town and walked along the outside of the old town.
From the drawings that we have seen all the land in front of the old town had been under the sea. Where we were walking aware we walked had been a series of wharves and entrances to the town.
Where the pillars and docks had been at ground level there is now a long row of shops, bars and ice cream parlours. Above the shops the original facade could be seen but looking very dilapidated many places was just the wall.
We bought ice creams and we went down into the cellars below the shops. These cellars had high vaulted ceilings and went back under the town and stretched along underneath the shops on either side. Now it was full of stalls selling clothes or souvenirs.
Listening to a guide we learned that these cellars were Roman and had been used for storage. Over time as houses were built above in the old town the cellars had become one large cesspit. Centuries of muck had to be removed before they could be opened up again.
Back outside at the end of the wall we came to an open-air market. The stalls went straight up on away from the promenade reached up to the small park outside of the Golden Gate.
