Croatian Travel: Diocletian's Palace

While visiting the city of Split in central Dalmatia, you will definitely want to visit Diocletian’s Palace. The Roman Emperor Diocletian spent his final years in this huge palace and is today one of the most imposing Roman ruins still in existence in the world today. This UNESCO World Heritage site has managed to stay surprisingly well intact, even after the many wars and attacks Croatia has had to endure over the centuries.

During the Middle Ages, the palace was modified significantly, yet these alterations have added to the over appeal and design rather than taking away from it. The palace area is really the size of a small village with 220 buildings inside the walled confines and is home to more than 3,000 people who run the many shops, cafes, and restaurants inside.

Built from beautiful white stone quarried from the island of Brac, the construction of the palace took nearly 10 years. There are beautiful columns and sphinxes that Emperor Diocletian had transported from Egypt as well as large pieces of marble that were imported from Italy and Greece.

The palace is surrounded by large walls, corner towers, and giant gates which were built to protect the palace and emperor from attacks. Walls measuring 85 feet still stand and many of the original gates are still intact today. Each gate was also named after a particular metal. To the north is the Golden Gate, to the south is the Bronze Gate, to the east is the Silver Gate, and to the west is the Iron Gate.

The best way to see the palace is simply to walk through it starting from the entrance near the Statue of Gregorius of Nin and making your way to the Basement Halls. This half mile walk will take you about two hours to take in all the fascinating sites the palace has to offer.

Also, if you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you'll be able to visit Daenerys Targaryen's throne room and see where her baby dragons were chained, as the palace is used as one of the shooting locations for the fictional city of Meereen.