When you're in Croatia, you must visit this ancient city

📍Detailed address: Split is a historic city in Croatia🇭🇷, the second largest city in the country, and a famous resort and tourist destination . It is located in the center of the Dalmatian coast on the Adriatic Sea, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, and the city's development history spans over 1,700 years. It is said that the city was developed around the summer palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, so valuable historical relics from ancient Rome are still preserved to this day. In 1979, the old town of Split was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. 🌟Highlights: Traveling by car from Dubrovnik to Split, it's just over 200 kilometers. The small city of Split has many historical sites and still retains the Golden Gate🚪, Silver Gate, Bronze Gate, and Iron Gate, the four city gates of the old town. The most famous is the core area of Split city---Diocletian's Palace. It was originally a Catholic church of the Roman Empire and is one of the oldest religious buildings in Croatia. Today, it has become the only Roman imperial palace ruins outside Italy. 👍Most recommended: Looking inside from the central square at the main gate, we see the staggered and even somewhat incomplete exterior of Diocletian's Palace. It is said to have been built in 305 AD, covering an area of 30,000 square meters, with palace walls reaching 17-21 meters in height and 2 meters in width. The six marble columns of the palace's main entrance were transported from the Middle East across the seas. On its eastern side stands the landmark of the old town of Split—a 57-meter-high bell tower🕰️. At every hour, four small puppet-like figures appear in the four windows of the bell tower, revealing their full bodies and rhythmically striking the bell according to the time. This is also part of the Church of St. Domnius, the best and tallest open-air viewing platform, with a total of 183 steps. The earliest it was the mausoleum of Emperor Diocletian, later converted into a church, named after St. Domnius. The church adopts the shape of an Egyptian🇪🇬 octagonal mausoleum, with altars from the 13th to the 17th century inside, and many statues, frescoes, and Christian reliefs carved on the altars. These important historical artifacts not only showcase the style and techniques of Baroque art but also allow visitors to appreciate the history of several hundred years from different periods. The area of Diocletian's Palace is not large. After walking nearly a hundred meters from the square, passing through the open-air market and entering the palace from the Silver Gate, we continue walking and looking around until we reach the colonnaded courtyard, which is completely another world—an open-air, comfortable and cool coffee shop. You can see many tourists drinking coffee☕ and playing, chatting, and resting here. After touring the inside, there is a bustling market outside, with everything from gourmet snacks , books📖, clothing to specialty souvenirs. There are also many impromptu a cappella groups on the roadside, all dressed in white shirts and black pants, with red cloth tied around their waists, humming melodious and enchanting Croatian🇭🇷 folk songs, which sound intoxicating and mesmerizing, and you can even buy their CD on the spot! Coming out of the Golden Gate, we also touched the toe of a statue🗿 called Pope 'Ninski,' which is said to bring good luck when touched. No wonder that toe is so shiny! The church is also a major tourist attraction in Split.🌸🌸🌸