Got to Split

Saturday four of us flew out of Rome to Split, Croatia, where Father Miro is from.

Our first stop was to meet his family--and have an excellent dinner.









A great transition out of exams!




The next morning, after a Sunday morning Mass at Fr. Miro's parish, we headed South and inland to visit the mountains, and have an excellent lunch at his brother's.











The water was amazingly blue.



Lunch had been cooking all day.











And some of it had been prepared even before that.



A bed of coals and ashes had been preparing lunch.
















After an outstanding meal, that included homemade wine, and the homemade hams, and the homemade . . . well, pretty much everything was homemade . . . we hiked up the hill to their church--which dated back to the 1200's.












It has a nice view.



On the way back to Split is the beautiful shrine of Vepric, which is a place of retreat and prayer, modeled on the shrine at Lourdes.














Better to light a whole bunch of candles than curse the darkness.


The next day we spent in Split itself, which is centered around the cathedral, the oldest in Christendom, as it was built by Diocletian as his mausoleum around AD 300--though those troublesome Christians he had tried to exterminate (in the most thorough persecutions of the Empire) came and rearranged the concept.





















We would find an excellent view from the bell tower.



Remnants of the great age of the site remain.







The sphinxes are a little older than everything else--dating back about 3500 years.




The entire city could be seen from the top.
















So we looked at it.

















A lot.
























We were reminded that we were in a bell tower by being in it at 12 noon!















The intricacy of the church, inside and out, is amazing.












The choir stalls.



Since Fr. Miro was the bishop's secretary before coming to study in Rome, we were able to get into parts of the cathedral normally closed off, like the crypt . . .










. . . and the treasury, where this Gospel from c. 590 is kept.



We had a delicious lunch in the heart of old town, washed down with Croatian beer, before heading out to the docks, where Fr. Miro's family kept a boat, which we tested out--by heading out onto the bay.

That evening we had Mass at the bishop's chapel, followed by an enjoyable dinner with the bishop--whose home has an outstanding view of the bay.

Finally, on our last day of a trip far too short, we headed north to Trogir, passing by the original settlement of Salona, where Titus may have been sent by Paul in the first century.








The city was destroyed by barbarians, but the foundations of the old Cathedral remain, where St. Vilnius, bishop martyred by the Romans, was buried.




Trogir itself is a beautiful walking city.












So we walked.



The church, as everything it seems here, dated back about a thousand years.









They didn't realize two types of stones, light and dark, had been used in its construction, until it was cleaned a few months ago.



Before returning to Italy, we had to hike up into the hills, and to the coast.

Which of course meant Father Larry and I had to jump in.









And reconfirm that 50 degree water is awfully cold.