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Knin - Split 2020 Part Four
You can come back on the previous part of this travelogue here.
So much for Vranjic, and now we are going to Split!
I returned to that ultra-busy road called Solin's Street. So it is a kind of northwestern connection of the town with the mainland. My goal was to get through the town and reach the Marijan peninsula. I will jump over the railway twice by the bridge, before and after the Split Suburban station (Split Predgrađe). Following are a couple of shots of that station.
First a view in the direction of the sea, towards the "main" station
Then I turned into the said station.
I passed that same station by train late tonight of this day on my way home. Here is a night shot of this station from the train.
Until 1983, from that station to Split's "main" station, the railway went through a kind of gorge. Then the town councillors decided to turn that gorge into a tunnel, so they would get extra space for urbanization above the tunnel.
When I turned 180 degrees in the last picture, I saw the entrance in that tunnel, which used to be the gorge.
On the forum www.zeljeznice.net, I found an image from 1960 of what it looked like when the railway was going through the gorge.
So, in the eighties, that tunnel has built. Interestingly, the tunnel has made in such a way that the existing railway was "buried", ie after the construction of the vertical walls of the tunnel and the vault, the surrounding terrain has buried and levelled, so roads or buildings could be built on it. In this way, the subway has built at many cities around the world, so the people of Split, the more sarcastic ones, say that the Split town is the first town in Croatia to have a subway. And I will add that the picture below, which shows the construction, was also borrowed from the said railway portal, and that the said tunnel is about 1.8 km long.
From the above-mentioned railway, I headed towards the part of the town called Poljud, behind which I should reach the Marijan peninsula. On that road, I first spotted a huge skyscraper still under construction.
Wikipedia enlightened me a little when it told me that it was the Dalmatia Tower and that it will be the tallest skyscraper in Croatia. It is the first Croatian skyscraper to cross the 100-meter mark. It is part of the Westgate project and will be completed in its second phase. Construction began in 2017, and completion is expected in late 2020. The skyscraper is a mixed business purpose, and the main tenant will be the hotel group Marriott, which thus enters the Croatian market.
West of Dalmatia Tower is the first skyscraper built as part of the Westgate - Westgate A project, whose height is 55 m. Westgate A is the headquarters of OTP Bank. In 2017, the Split Westgate project received the award for the best European business building construction.
Well, now you, along with me, are enlightened, at least a little bit.
For football fans, I filmed a piece of Hajduk's stadium located in a part of Split called Poljud.
Before the Marjan peninsula, which I did not reach yet, I filmed the northern portal of the Marijan tunnel.
As its name suggests, it was built under the Marijan hill, so that the eastern part of the port, the Acy marina and the southern part of the Marijan peninsula could be reached with tin pets. So the famous Split waterfront after this construction of the tunnel became a pedestrian zone.
And finally, I reached the Forest Park of the Marian Peninsula.
Pinewood has always been on the Marijan peninsula. Then they built (and paved) a road that goes around that peninsula, and finally, the road on the north side of the peninsula was declared a trim track by a legal decree. According to legal norms, the trim trail has nothing to do with anything that goes on petroleum products, so that only those who go exclusively with the strength of their muscles, whether they are walkers, joggers, skaters or, in the end, cyclists, can move on the road or, indeed the trim track.
Here, again, comes the metamorphosis of the bicycle, which can sometimes be a means of transport and sometimes a means of recreation.
I was hot, very hot. Maybe the reason for that is the traffic jam on the city streets that I passed through, maybe the town itself with plenty of asphalt and concrete, maybe because the sea has moved awa so there is no breeze from it, maybe .... I could go on like this indefinitely, but it won't chill me. But maybe one swim in the sea would cool me down.
And so, against my principle not to swim in the sea because I (mostly) feel cold, I rode slowly, from foot to foot, along this trim track and I carefully observed the shore on the right, to find convenient location. This convenient place must be convenient for several reasons. It must be convenient to park the bike, then to change, then to enter the sea, uh, the sea then ... And while I found a flaw in every place that would be a potential candidate for that famous swim, a drinking fountain with a pure cold water appeared in front of me. It was with water from the waterspring of the river Jadro, the same river whose lower course, before its confluence with the sea, I showed in the image somewhere earlier in this story.
Immediately forgetting the sea and the search for a place to swim, I parked my bike, took off in my shorts and washed everything except those short, copiously with cold, clear freshwater.
Ah, enjoyment!
Reborn and returned to normal, I gave time for the drops of water, which were shining like pearls on the sunlight, to dry and evaporate.
I stood like that, waited patiently, without any connected thought. And while I wait the chilled body somehow was calming down, without any need for any dynamics. This calm and enjoyment of it were quite enough for it. However, I felt that this serenity and surrender to it gradually affects my spirit as well.
In a word, I had a desire to get some sleep!
It was only 3 pm, I had a lot of time, there was really no reason to hurry. In addition, it is better to spend the hottest part of the day in the peace of the pleasant shade of pine trees than in the city crowds. And when the heat subsides a bit ... I catch myself convincing myself, looking for an excuse, I don't even know what, to lie down on one of the benches.
Well, let's find that bench. It didn’t take long, unlike that search for a place to swim. Just the second or third proved good enough to me. It was in the greater shade, and it was a little further away from the trim track.
When I look a little further, there are a lot of places like this which I have just chosen. Here's what the neighbourhood of this bench of mine looked like
So, something similar to yesterday's lunch behind Šibenik, in the Brodarica place, follows. I will not describe the preparations in detail again, they are more or less the same. But I will describe my experience!
The shade of pine trees, their smell, the concert of the symphony orchestra of crickets, the absence of any traffic (joggers and pedestrians do not make a noise like motorized ones) ... All this together lifted me somewhere far, far away, where there is only tranquillity and calm. I have an unspeakably pleasant feeling that fatigue and anguish run out from me, which is replaced by an even more pleasant feeling of rest and vigour.
I will never forget those unspeakably pleasant twenty minutes!
I woke up like another, new person, and fluttered and cheerfully got up, picked up my bike, and moved on.
Before leaving, I still filmed a scene in front of my four-poster bed.
A hundred yards away I came across a drywall house. I did not know its previous and current purpose. Maybe one of them is to stop a passerby and take a few seconds of his life from him. Like it did with me now.
On the other side, to my right, towards the sea, my attention was drawn by a lonely boat and a remote settlement on the land behind it.
A few tens of meters before the cape of the peninsula, the trim track got a legal transformation into a classic road on which motor vehicles can also travel from now on. Although what I saw is the same, both as a trim track and as a road.
The term “open” is under quotation marks because I have not seen a straight line which is connecting the sky and the sea. Instead of that straight line, I saw the islands of Brač and Šolta.
As a kid, back in elementary school, my range of summer school holidays was going to the village at my aunt. Going to the sea was something elitist, only the chosen ones went there, and when they returned, they were talking us, who we were an "ordinary mortals", about their adventures. All that remains for me is a longing for that blue that, like any wish that remains unfulfilled for a long time, grows to heights and idealizes that sea and everything around it to unimaginable proportions. In that time, sometimes, waking up from that rosy fantasy, I would ask myself, "Where do kids from the sea go on school holidays ?!"
Maybe those from Split go to the beaches that are here, in the southern part of the Marijan peninsula, which are known as swimming places for Split's inhabitant.
At the end of that tour around the peninsula, I arrived at the southern portal of the Marijan tunnel.
I have already entered the eastern part of the bay called Town port (Gradska luka), which is, in fact, in the western part of that bay.
There was a freshly made wide promenade by the sea, and on its left side across the road is the Hotel Marijan (everything here is in the sign of that name).
I turned on the promenade by the sea ...
... and finally arrived at the famous Split waterfront.
Should I tour the town or go to the train station first to buy a ticket for tonight’s train? I chose the latter and - I was wrong.
A little on foot, and a little by riding, I went along the waterfront as far as I could. There are always some exotic boats on the waterfront, so it was this time too.
The closer I get to the station the bigger crowd was, as the people walking, and the vehicles on the road. It is always crowded here because here is also a train and bus station, and a ferry port. Truth be told, I have to admit that in previous years, this crowd can be even bigger,
coronavirus pandemics did its thing.
I finally somehow made my way to the box office at the train station where I was greeted by a note cordially informing me that the break had just begun.
That's why I was wrong.
Slightly annoyed, I was getting warmer and warmer, not only because of the objective heat that had not yet subsided.
I shrugged and accepted the situation as it is (“God forbid greater evil!”) and went back to the waterfront. First I filmed the Harbor Master's Office building, one of the landmarks of the Port of Split.
According to Wikipedia, it was built from 1890 to 1926. The Port Authority building is a Neo-Renaissance corner building of a prominent position in the northeastern part of the town port, which today is called the Coast of the Lazaretto. It has built on the southwest corner of the former Lazaretto.
Further, I filmed the southern entrance to Diocletian's Palace, which will be discussed later.
Here was another architectural beauty about whom I couldn’t find anything on the internet.
At the square called Prokurative, I came across an oldtimer, finely restored.
Behind it, to the right was the Prokurative Square
According to Wikipedia, Prokurative, or officially Republic Square, is the famous Mediterranean square in the center of Split, west of Diocletian's Palace, also known as the stage of cultural events in the city under the Marjan hill. The traditional festival of pop music "Split" has been held at Prokurative for almost fifty years.
All this I have gone through, from the unsolicited purchase of a ticket at the train station until now, has not been a random, aimless wandering through the town. On the contrary! I went with a specific goal, and that was - dinner.
So, ever since 1984 I discovered that it is well eaten in the Paulina grill.
The room is small, only three meters by three meters, but whenever I come, and I come every time I’m in this town, it’s always crowded. The standard repertoire is kebabs with onions and ajvar and half a litre of draft beer.
Up to today!
Kebabs are still as delicious as they were 36 years ago, but for the first time - there was no draft beer, but beer in bottles. Okay, well, I look to petty now, but the long tradition has been broken, at least for a little, and I don't like that.
Of course, I did not allow this small, for some insignificant, change to spoil my enjoyment of the meal. No, not at all! I slowly enjoyed every bite and every sip without rushing for anywhere or for anything. Along the way, I observed the ambience around me and the happenings in it. People of all ages, genders and clothes paraded just a meter or two in front of my eyes. There were also pigeons, already well trained in watching us while we eat, expecting our recklessness that would result in the kebab falling from the bun to the ground. That kebab won't last long on the ground paved with stone slabs, just a second or two. The nearest pigeon will immediately run up and, with the same pleasure likes me, put that kebab in its mouth, that is, its beak.
Across from me, my bike, fully equipped with equipment from this trip, waited patiently for me to enjoy myself in this meal.
After lunch, which was fantastic, calm and serene, I set off on a tour of Diocletian’s Palace. On the way to it, I crossed the beautifully landscaped Marmont Street.
From this beautifully landscaped street, I entered by far the narrowest street on this journey. Definitely!
Walking through the streets searching the square in the old town, I came across a Muslim prayer space (!).
I had to pull myself through two narrow streets more to I came to the Square finally.
According to Wikipedia, People's square in Split (better known as Pjaca) is a city square created by the urban expansion of the town west of the Iron Gate of Diocletian's Palace. With this the main town square has moved from east to west, leaving the Peristyle with the function of the cathedral square (Piazza del Duomo), that is, the main
Following is a view of the western part of the People's Square, Hotel Central ...
... and then of the eastern part of the square.
To the right, in that shadow, in the image above is the western entrance to Diocletian's Palace, which was called the Iron Gate. Today that entrance looks like this
It is assumed that, when it has built, Diocletian's Palace looked like this
(Source: https://sites.google.com/site/hrvatskigradvi13579/split)
The central square of Diocletian's Palace is a square called the Peristyle (Peristil)
According to wikipedia, the Peristyle is like the central square of Diocletian's Palace, located in the part where several temples were built, and was intended for Emperor Diocletian, celebrated as the living son of Jupiter. The emperor appeared under the architrave arch of the central part of the protiron, the subjects approached him, kneeling and kissing the skirts of his crimson cloak, or falling prostrate in front of him, lying with his whole body on the ground. The red colour of the granite pillars emphasizes the ceremonial function. Namely, from the emperor Diocletian, purple becomes the colour of the emperor.
Immediately to the left looking at the image above is the Split Cathedral.
According to the Internet, the Split Cathedral is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, popularly known as the Cathedral of St. Dujam or St. Duje (St.Dominick). The cathedral is located in the complex of Diocletian's Palace in Split, on the Peristyle square and was originally an imperial mausoleum, built in the early 4th century. Cathedral of St. Duje is the oldest cathedral in the world. In the 7th century, the imperial mausoleum was converted into a Christian church, pagan idols and the sarcophagus in which the emperor rested were removed. From the ruined basilicas in Salona, the bones of the holy martyrs that Diocletian had executed were transferred: Dujam, the first bishop of Salona, and Anastasis, a worker, which have buried in the emperor's mausoleum.
(source: https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitska_katedrala)
The heat did not subside yet, and walking through this palace there was not a refreshing breeze, so I set off slowly towards the Riva to conclude today's visit to Diocletian. Right in front of the waterfront, and still, in the palace, I came across Fruit Square.
According to the Internet, it is better known among the people of Split for his unofficial name (Voćni trg = The Fruit Square) than for its official name The Square of the Radić brothers. Its "folk" name can be attributed to the fact that there used to be a noisy and colourful market where women from the surrounding villages sold fruit. Vegetables were sold in the neighbouring square, west of this one. The square is dominated by the magnificent palace of the old Milesi family from the 17th century with a spectacular baroque facade, one of the best examples of this style in all of Dalmatia (on the image above, behind the monument). In front of it, on the other hand, is a monument to the father of Croatian literature, Marko Marulić from Split, who was one of the most important thinkers and intellectuals of the 15th century.
(source: https://visitsplit.com/hr/511/vocni-trg)
On the other side of the palace shown in the image above is the Octagonal Venetian Tower, built in the 15th century.
I went out on the waterfront and used it to head towards the station. It was about 6 pm, the sun was behind me, so it would be a sin not to photograph the famous Split waterfront, so beautifully illuminated by the sun’s rays.
I came to the train station quite tired cause of the heat. Because of that heat, I was a little dejection, so I patiently sat on the bench in front of the rail track and arranged my impressions.
The train traffic at the Split station is not very impressive. Only a few trains, like this local.
Due to driving around and around Split, the total score of today's kilometres was above expectations.
When it was completely dark, "my" train finally arrived. The first thing I did upon entering the wagon was to open all the windows. It is obvious that this set of the train came from Zagreb this morning, so after disembarking the passengers, it has returned to the Split Suburbs station, on some sidetrack to be well warmed by the hot sun during the day (did I mention earlier that it was a hot day today, didn't I!?). And now, when that sun had finally gone to rest, that train set, finely heated, was brought here to receive new passengers.
The fresh evening breeze, which had been shyly hiding while the sun was shining, was now cooling everything living and non-living, including the interior of this wagon in which I had placed the bicycle.
Immediately to the right in the image above are the passenger compartments where I settled in one of them. This time I was more fortunate in the form of a free one side of the compartment. About half an hour after moving and after visiting the conductor, I stretched out “as long and wide as I am” and slowly sank into sleep.
Something like the fourth day
In the metropolis of Croatia, the train arrived at Central Station a little before 6 am.
Now I had to change to another train to Vinkovci, which departs in about ten minutes. The organizers of the traffic at the main railway station in Zagreb have conveniently arranged that the train is on the same track only a hundred meters away. Therefore, I just lightly, improvised, put the equipment on the bike, and still a little bit sleepy, I rode a little around Zagreb, or at least at its train station. Here is another train, the one for the Vinkovci town, which will take me to the Nova Gradiška town.
Now, the difference between de facto and de jure. This train, which I just got on, de jure has a bicycle compartment, but de facto it doesn't. When I asked the conductor, who was standing on the platform next to the door of the wagon, which is wagon has a bicycle compartment, he said to me:
- Get in this one!
- But there's no bike compartment!
- Never mind, just come in and put it aside!
And so my bike had luxury accommodation and was together with the passengers on this last train of this journey. I think it deserved that luxury.
Upon arrival in Nova Gradiška, I first had breakfast in the town park and then slowly took the known road home, some 30km away.
At breakfast in Nova Gradiška, I was impressed by the flowers which were between the park and the street.
Between Posavina, the plain along the Sava River and the Požega Valley, when coming from the west, is a small pass Baničevac. Here’s what it looks like, as a contribution to the contrast of the environment over the past three days.
While I was putting my bike in my basement and unpacking my luggage, I listened to the news on the radio, the ones at noon. They started with "In Croatia today, the infected with the coronavirus are ...". I realized that in these three days I had been deprived of such daily news. My God, it was nice to me without this news!
Instead of a point on i
With immense gratitude to you, two, three readers, who have had special, immense patience to come to these lines of this travelogue, I would like to explain a few things.
First:
Why it is so detailed and so long.
They say one picture is like a thousand words and one visit is like a thousand pictures! Accordingly, every place I visited on this ride will no longer be what it used to be for me.
During the ride, I am also busy to thinking about how to proceed, whether I will arrive, where to stop, how long to stop, whether to start immediately or a little later ... Only when I "put it all on paper", slowly and in detail, like this travelogue, without the uncertainty of how, if, and when, only then I actually and fully experience this journey. Because thoughts are a murky fluid mass, nothing concrete, but it gives the illusion that everything can be seen, understood and comprehended. "The word is a midwife in the birth of thoughts," says the Bosnian writer Meša Selimović. So only when we turn these thoughts into a word only then the thought becomes concretize, and clarify.
And so only now, in this text, have I completed that three-day journey. And only now the pleasures, delights and impressions initiated by the journey are completed.
So I am writing this blog for myself as much as for you, my dear patient reader.
Second:
People watch matches as others fight, compete. People watch movies and peek into other people's desires, torments, fears, joys or doubt. People read and follow by reading ...people don't read anymore actually, they "don't have time" for that.
"Technique to the people", as the proverb says, so through television, mobile phones, the Internet they can peek into everyone's soul, into everyone's desires, torments, desires, disappointments ... This technique allows them to make it look so faithful and convincing as if they were sitting in the first row, and in the middle, at the most favourable seat of the theatre, and watching other people's lives.
In a word - they are voyeurs.
I don’t brag much about my cycling voyages, nor are they objectively something significant, nor are they anything special in content. I get on my bike and rode, not a great wonder! People would rather watch someone’s ascent of Mt.Everest or someone’s survival in the Sahara than read these lines, written above. These written lines are not strong enough to ignite a fire of interest in them, to arouse their curiosity. They need something much, much stronger.
So I think that I would rather be on the stage of some small village theatre, than in the first row, say the Croatian National Theater. What I drove for them is small, almost nothing, it is not worth their attention and respect.
And I think just the opposite, this of mine is big, significant and very important, because it is - mine, because I made it!
So I hope, wish, and ultimately assume that with someone who reads this story, I will instil in his soul a worm of encouragement, restlessness, and doubt in his past passivity, a worm that will ultimately make him think, “So when could he do that, maybe I could too ... "
If I did it with one, I did it a lot!
And finally, the third!
I went deep into my sixty-third year. I don’t mention it out of some pride, on the contrary. The already mentioned Selomović said in a book: "When I was twenty, no problem was unsolvable for me, and now, in my forties, a straight path is an insurmountable abyss for me!"
And what would he said about my age !.
That's why I needed this ride.
To tell me or
Take the cutter, cut the bike and throw it away, it's not for you any more! ”
or
"Stop wasting your time on useless thinking, rather than sit on your bike and pedalling!"
Because problems on the road are proportional to fears in the head. And at my age I have fear as much as you want, there is also it for export.
With this ride, I showed myself that I can!
Everything else is much easier.
I can't wait for spring!
Post je objavljen 27.01.2021. u 18:22 sati.