After leaving Canazei, Italy, we headed to Slovenia, stopping for the night at Kobarid. The next morning we stopped and checked out the flying site of Lijack, about an hour south from there. It was a gray cloudy day and would have taken 1/2 hr plus to get up to launch just to see if it was flyable. At best we would have gotten a short sled ride. With six more hours of driving ahead of us to get to Makarska, Croatia, we made a group decision to keep going.
Late in the afternoon we made a quick stop at Split to take a break from sitting in the vehicle and spent an hour wandering around the Diocletian's Palace* -- otherwise known as "Old Town." The palace was built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the 4th century AD. Being from the young country of Canada, it's difficult for me to imagine anything that old. (Please, no smart remarks from my younger friends or relatives about my age!)
Although it's called a palace, it was built more like a military fortress. After being abandoned by the Romans, it sat empty until the 7th century when people began flooding into it to escape invading troops. The palace is still a mixture of residences (home to about 3000 people), restaurants and shops in addition to the more fortress or palace-like buildings, statues, etc. It was interesting (and also felt someone invasive) to see laundry hanging out to dry and women leaning out the windows to water the flowers in the window boxes.
The palace and several locations in Dubrovnik are well known for "Game of Thrones" being filmed there.
 |
| Looking down on the city from the palace bell tower - beautiful late afternoon light. |
 |
| Inside the bell tower. |
 |
| Looking up through the atrium. |
 |
| The atrium from above. |
 |
| Laundry outside a private home within the palace walls. |
 |
| Late afternoon light on the bell tower. |
*
Info about the palace summarized from Lonely Planet.
No comments:
Post a Comment