It seems that wherever we travel, the Romans got there first. Croatia is no exception. Those Romans sure knew how to get around. A quick thirty minute bus ride from Split’s old town, we find ourselves in Split’s older town.
The ruins from the Roman Empire, dating back to Julius Caesar from the 40’s BC are currently being excavated to reveal a large settlement. There are many structures left in fairly decent condition and there are still so many left to uncover. Even while we were there, there were active dig sights happening. Some with little tools, and some with large diggers.
There were sections of land set aside with piles of (what seems to be) rubble, waiting for the day when one of the archeologists has enough time to patiently piece them back together into spectacular columns or sarcophagi or walls or murals. You can see some structures that have been purposely and obviously recreated to show what once used to be.
Cemeteries, churches, bathhouses, theatres, amphitheatres, and more have all been discovered. It is obvious that it is going to take decades to fully complete this excavation. There are still people living in houses right on the land. There is farmland, highways, roads and general civilization in the way of discovering what lies underneath. I guess that is what happens when your history is over 2000 years old; it is always possible that your 400 year old (ancient) house was built on the ruins of (even more) ancient civilizations.
It seems we didn’t get enough of ancient artifacts because we soon ended up in the Archeological Museum. Here we got to enjoy the temporary exhibition all about what they have found in a necropolis on the Croatian island of Korcula. Here items date back over 15000 years. Unbelievable! The permanent exhibit was filled with more treasures from the Roman ruins we visited in the morning. For every one item we saw, there were hundreds that are still being catalogued. Incredible.
To say our brains are full and our feet are weary would be an understatement. We read so many billboards, learned so many facts, sorted through so many dates, looked up so many words we didn’t know, clarified so many ideas, explored so many ruins and walked so many steps.
We are loving every minute of this adventure. We are discovering not only new cultures, new countries and new customs, but also so many levels of history. Our living history, modern history, medieval history and ancient history. I really hope we retain at least 10% as much as we are likely to forget.
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