One More Time Through Diocletian's Palace

Carol had the smart suggestion to go back to Diocletian's Palace around 4pm, when it was not as crowded, to see Jupiter's Temple, the Cathedral of St. Domnius, the Treasury, and the crypt of Saint Lucia.

The quick version -- Jupiter's Temple: worth it.  The Cathedral of St. Domnius: worth it.  The Treasury: If you have time and inclination.  The Crypt of Saint Lucia: Save a couple of Euros and skip it.

There was not a line to buy tickets, so we waltzed right in and bought tickets.  Maddy skipped buying the crypt (she is often wise beyond her years).

We started by going to Jupiter's Temple/St. John's Baptistery.  Built for Diocletian to worship Jupiter and his other gods, it was repurposed after his death to be a baptistry.  

It's much smaller than I expected.  The feature is a statue of John the Baptist by Ivan Mestrovic.  His work definitely is recognizable, and reminds Carol and I of the great Spanish sculptor, Josep Subirachs

There are other things, albeit not many, to see in the Temple/Bapistry.

Then we went to the Treasury, which includes an eclectic mix of art and treasures from back in the day.  We covered most of it, but we were worried about time to see the Cathedral, so we bugged out early.

The Cathedral is well worth the time.  It is the oldest and smallest building used as a Cathedral anywhere in the Christian faith.  

Originally the mausoleum for Diocletian's body, which was disappeared by Christian celebrating his death after his reign of terror and persecution of their religion.

There are some granite columns and a relief from the original temple.  Diocletian had Bishop Domnius of Salona killed, and now the bishop's sarcophagus occupies Diocletian's mausoleum.  

Maddy climbed the 183 steep steps of the bell tower, and its sweeping views of Split.  Maddy enjoyed the views but also noted that between my knee and Carol's aches and pains, we made the right decision not to go.

While she did that, we explored the pointless crypt.

After the fuller exploration of Diocletian's Palace, we headed to Fife restaurant at the recommendation of our, um, aggressive Uber driver.

He said the local dish there, Pasticada, reminds him of his mother's cooking.  Honestly, we were underwhelmed.  After some great meals in Croatia, this wasn't one of them.  I quipped that it reminded me of his mother's cooking too.

Pasticada, which is tasty gnocchi served

with shoe leather meat and glops of

sauce.  Don't say you haven't been warned.

Well, you can't have everything, so we went to our favorite gelato place and ended on a high note.

(Editor: So I noticed you didn't inject as much humor into the last few blog posts. . .why is that?

Writer: It could have something to do with the finish line of the Croatia blog being in sight.)

Croatia: Done.