Doing The Peristyle In Style (Part I)

After the cellars, we headed up the stairs to the Peristyle, which is the centerpiece of the Palace.  It's a small square that fits lots of people in it -- and they do fit in.

There are red granite pillars and a mostly intact black sphinx from Egypt.  Diocletian spent a bunch of time in Egypt, and he ended up walking like an Egyptian!  It is believed by certain Egyptologists that Diocletian was the inspiration for the Bangles song!

(Editor: Do you just make stuff up from time to time?

Writer: Yes.  But my readers are discerning enough to know when I'm yanking their collective chains.  That's because my readers are the smartest blog readers!

Editor: Suck up!)

We went up into the Entry Vestibule, which is directly above the stairs we took from the cellars to the Peristyle.  This impressive entry led into Diocletian's living quarters, which were designed to elicit house envy in visiting important people.

As you may know, emperors were believed to be gods, and Diocletian called himself "Jovius," the son of Jupiter, the most powerful of all gods.  

There is a big hole in the ceiling of the entry way.  Capped by dome which collapsed long ago, the ceiling featured frescoes and mosiacs.

Grifters abound in the Palace, as some dress convincingly as Roman soldiers and pose for photos (in return for money) with primarily teenage girls and old women.  Inside the vestibule there was a singer belting out traditional Croatian music, taking advantage of the stuffing acoustics, accepting donations and selling CDs.

There's no place like dome.

Back in the day, Diocletian

would stand here and his

subjects would lie on the

ground in worship, praising

him and kissing his robe.

My ladies don't bow down

to anyone!  (Especially

not me!)

Packed Peristyle.

Mostly intact Sphinx brought

back from Egypt.

The lines for the tickets to the paid parts of the palace were incredibly long.  It wasn't an overly hot day, but it was hot enough that standing in the line in the sun for an hour or so wasn't very appealing, so we headed off to lunch at Bepa restaurant on Narodni Trg.  

It was our second restaurant we ate at where we were told "only tourists go there."  But the food was fine and we enjoyed pleasant outdoor seats (under cover) to be able to people watch.  So it wasn't a wasted time.

The square was packed at lunch time.