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Capital: Zagreb
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Croatia was not as fortunate as Slovenia for its Orthodox Serb minority was larger (10% in '91), and concentrated in well defined areas which made it susceptible to irredentist activism. Croatians voted 93% in favour of independence in May 1991 but when the Croatian government declared independence from the federation on June 25th, the Krajina Serbs backed by Serbia claimed independence from Croatia to join the Bosnian Serbs in their pursuit of the "Greater Serbia" promoted by Slobodan Miloševic. Fighting broke out around Krajina, Baranja and Slavonica as Orthodox Serb activists supported by the Yugoslav Federal Army took control of a fourth of Croatia. Six months of fighting left 10 000 dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of Croats before a cease-fire backed by a UN force was reached. Croatia amended its constitution to protect minority rights and its independence was recognized by the EC in January and by the US in April 1992 before being admitted in the UN in May. At about the same time, civil war broke out in neighbouring Bosnia pitting the Serb minority and the Yugoslav Federal Army against the majority formed of the Croats and Muslims who had voted for independence. The UN peace plan for Krajina stipulated the disarmament of the Serb militias, the repatriation of Croat refugees and the return of the region to Croatia. Not only did these conditions did not materialize, but Croats were forced to flee Krajina leaving less than a thousand out of the original 44 000. In January 1993 the Croatian army launched an offensive and civil war was on again. The Croats took control of western Slavonia in May and of Krajina in August 1995 causing hundreds of thousands Serbs to flee to the Serb held areas of Bosnia. Finally the Dayton peace accord signed in December 1995 recognized Croatia's prewar borders and Eastern Slavonia was returned in January 1998. |
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After my accident in Ljubljana, I considered spending a couple of days in my hotel room to rest my sprained ankle but reading about Split in my guidebook gave me the urge to see Diocletian's palace and I got on the night bus to come here instead. That was a mistake for walking on it made it progressively worse. Finally I could barely walk and had to return to Montreal prematurely, missing Albania and Macedonia.
Diocletian's Palace occupies the south half of a large Roman fortress of 215 by 180 meters, the other half holding barracks for the garrison. The enclosure has been continuously occupied and modified since its construction around 300 AD. Now, it hides behind this row of shops facing the harbour seen in the previous picture.
The photo on the left shows Diocletian's octagonal mausoleum which has been transformed into a Cathedral by the addition of the belfry between it and the colonnaded Peristyle that leads to the Vestibule shown on the right .
Most Roman ruins have been destroyed, abandoned or made into museums but the Roman ruins here have been continuously lived in for 17 centuries! That is something to think about while having an expresso in this outdoor cafe in the Peristyle or strolling through the narrow streets of what used to be a Roman town. In Roman times, Kresimirova ul. on the left below separated the Palace from the barracks area and Bagamontijeva ul. on the right bordered the western wall in the barracks area.
Immediately west of the Roman enclosure lies the medieval town of Split with its old City Hall on Narodni square. Its streets are just as narrow and charming as you can see below. On the left, me with Gordan Salanovic, the owner of a bookshop that provided internet access in Kruziceva ul.
The stone-work on the left of this picture of Brace Radica square is the base of the last surviving tower of a 15th century Venitian Castle.
In Split I stayed here in the home of Ivanica Balov who was waiting for customers at the bus station when I arrived.
By now my ankle was giving me a hard time, taking the pleasure out of my adventure.
