Wednesday May 15 started cloudy but turned very sunny mid-afternoon. We took it easy in the morning, doing a wash as there is a washing machine in our Airbnb.
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| Walking past the Venetian style building just to the west of the Palace |
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| Croissant time-- mine was vegan with raspberry and Allan had an apricot croissant |
We stopped for a short visit to the small synagogue in Split (very close to the D16 coffee shop). It is hidden down a very narrow dark small side street (Židovski Prolaz (Jewish Lane). It was built into the western wall of Diocletian's Palace by Jews escaping the inquisition in Spain and Portugal.
The synagague dates back to 1510 and is said to be the third-oldest practicing synagogue in Europe (after ones in Prague and Dubrovnik). The largely Sephardic Jewish community numbered about 300 people before the Holocaust. There are only abut 100 Jews in Split today. There was a member of the congregation who showed us around the tiny synagogue. He told us that when the Italians occupied Split from 1941-1943, the Jewish community survived although the synagogue's library and archive was destroyed in June 1942 by a fascist mob.
In September 1943, following the capitulation of Italy, the city was temporarily controlled by Tito's Partisans. However, a few weeks later, the Partisans were forced to retreat as the Wehrmacht placed the city under the authority of the puppet Independent State of Croatia, under the control of the Ustaše, the fascist, far right nationalist organization, founded in 1929. The man in the synagogue told us that Partisans had offered to help the Jewish community in Split escape before the Germans entered the town, but most refused and remained in Split. However, some crossed the Adriatic in small boats to Italy and to Partisan-held islands, while others joined the Partisan forces on the mainland. He told us that it was the Ustaše that murdered around 150 of the Jews from Split. The synagogue was only totally closed for one year (1943-44) in its history. It was restored after WWII and subsequently renovated in 1996 and 2015. |
| Stairs leading to the synagogue |
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Showing Allan the names of those killed by the Ustaše,
including the leader of the community who refused to go. |
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| The synagogue |
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| Separate women's section that is not used today |
After our visit, we stopped at Tradicija, the oldest confectionary in town, with great cookies and cakes made from traditional recipes.
Outside the bakery
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Lots of treats
We then wandered back to the Golden Gate entrance to the Palace, which was much quieter, as the morning tours had come and gone. |
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| Golden Gate palace entrance |
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| Allan rubbing the toe of Gregory of Nin for good luck, before we headed through the Gate |
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| The inner Gate inside the Golden Gate entrance |
Our next stop was a visit to the Emanuel Vidović Gallery, just around the corner from the Peristyle (main Palace square). The beautifully restored Romanesque house devotes its three storeys to the career of local painter Emanuel Vidović (1872-1953). He is Croatia's leading post-impressionist. Vidović had a life-long fascination with Adriatic townscapes with Split, nearby Trogir and the Italian town of Chioggia providing most of his subject matter.
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| Signage on the building |
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| Motif from Trogir, ca 1952 |
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| Peasant Houses near Venice, Memory of an Old Motif, 1951 |
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| A wall of his pictures- very impressionistic |
Vidović also painted dolls, which are found in his studio re-creation.
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| Still Life with a Doll, 1946 |
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| Old Doll Study, 1942 |
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| The Cathedral of Split, 1939 |
There was a drawing of the street very close to where we are staying.
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| St. Mikula Street in Varoš II, 1940 |
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| His work was memorialized in a number of Yugoslavian stamps |
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| Rode (E. Vidović), Caricature of Ivan Meštrović, 1911 |
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| Canal Vena in Chioggia, 1898 |
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| Vranjic, 1898 |
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| Re-creation of Vidović's Studio |
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| Dolls and Masks |
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| Studio Balcony, 1949 |
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| Christmas Morning, 1942 |
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Emanuel Vidović, ca 1910
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| Ivan Mirković, Emanuel Vidović, 1918 with a 1907 quote from Croatian poet and short story writer Anton Gustav Matoš (1873-1914): If it is true that the greatest works of art are those most resembling music, Vidović is the greatest artist, if not the greatest painter in this exhibition. |
We went for a late afternoon bite at Kantun Paulina, "serving the best ćevapi in Split for over 37 years". It is a take out place in our Varos neighbourhood, just about a 5 minute walk from our house.
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| Outside of Kantun Paulina |
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Making our ćevapi-- minced meat (typically a mix of lamb and beef) formed into a sausage link shape, then grilled. The small sausages are served in a pita-like flatbread with onions and a delicious sauce called ajvar, made from roasted sweet red peppers and eggplants. One can order 5, 7, or 10 pieces of the meat. We had five pieces each. |
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| Yum! |
The clouds had all left by mid afternoon and we decided to go sit on the Riva. We passed a building near the Fish Market with some beautiful decoration.
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| Decorated building not far from the waterfront |
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Obala Hrvatskog Narodnog Preporoda (Croatian National Revival Embankment) really is the official name of what everyone calls the Riva, (the waterfront promenade). Riva means harbour in Italian. The plaque under the street name notes that "Croatian National Revival was a social, cultural and political movement in the first half of the 19th century aimed at arousing the national identity." |
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| The Riva on a sunny day-- it is a vibrant place to hang |
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| Catching some rays--- we saw the Cruise ship leave the harbour |
After a rest at our Airbnb, we headed to dinner at Uje Oil Bar Restaurant which is associated with a lovely store that sells its own brand of olive oil, sea salts and other local treats. The restaurant is located on a narrow street in the Palace area. We sat outside across from the Uje Olive Oil store.
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Lovely location
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| We both took pics of each other taking pics before dinner |
There is a small menu with some additional daily specials all using fresh, local and seasonal ingredients.
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| I had sea bass with potatoes and peas and pea puree |
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| Allan had the black risotto (a Split specialty) |
The food was very good. The meal started with home made bread and their own olive oil (very tasty). Service was excellent with the waiter telling us about their fleur de sel that is harvested early in the morning making it less "salty". It is used as a finishing salt.
We wandered back to the Riva, before heading back to our place. A very chill day in Split.
We are also enjoying finding out about the Croatian artists that all flourished and interacted with each other in the early part of the 20th century.
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