Top 5 Favorite Hotels 2010-2020: #3: Azur Palace, Split, Croatia

The only hotel on this short list of favorite hotels during my decade of incessant international travel is found in Split, Croatia: the awesome Azur Palace.

The Azur Palace was brand new the first time I stayed there in September 2014. It was so new that it wasn't even completely done the first time there. Only about 15 or 16 rooms, all on the first floor, were finished.

Even in a partially-open state, the place was amazing. The rooms were large. The sound-proofing between rooms and the with the hallway was the absolute best I've seen (heard, actually). And it had a fantastic coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine in the hallway available 24 hours a day. This was in lieu of offering a breakfast, which the hotel owner promised would be ready "the next time" we were in Split.

Amazingly enough, five years and one month later, there was a "next time".

October 2019. Another trip to Split. There was no hesitation to book another stay at the Azur Palace. And the hotel was a little bigger and even a little better, although (sadly) the coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine was retired now that a buffet breakfast was available.

The Azur Palace has comfortable, quiet, and large rooms. The staff was small, but extremely professional and very helpful. It is located off a quiet, very narrow (how narrow? barely the width of car) side street, but it is very near the Old City area of Split, just inland from Diocletian's Palace (the Old City is basically the remnants of the Dalmatian-born Roman Emperor's retirement palace. And it was only about two blocks from Froggyland:

Two times to Split. Two times staying at the Azur Palace. Two times visiting the wonders of Froggyland. (What is Froggyland? Only one of the greatest attractions the world has to offer. Over 500 taxidermy frogs posed in human-like scenes. I showed a picture -- the courtroom scene was particularly memorable -- but no photos inside are allowed. Froggyland must be experienced in person.)

Easter Sunday Phot-o' the Day: From atop Marjan Hill, Split, Croatia

The tombstone has been rolled back.
The tomb is empty.
Death and the devil will not prevail in the end.

Split Tour: Above the City at Marjan Hill

The cross high atop Marjan Hill.
It's high on the hill, but the Croatian flag is even higher. I wonder if the symbolism was intended.

The day ended with a return trip to Froggyland. But before we get there, we've got hills to climb.

But first, let's address this:

See those two kiosks? One is labelled "Traditional Croatian Products." It's selling crepes slathered in Nutella. That's about as Croatian as kim chee served in Panmunjon, Korea. The other is labelled "Dalmatian Specialties," which includes "mini-donuts" and slushies. Slushies? Again, about as Dalmatian-Croatian as fish and chips served with warm beer on the London Bridge (in Lake Havasu, Arizona).

Moving on to Marjan. 

Stairs. And many more to come. But Oh the View! makes it totally worth it.

OK, so that's the view after the first dozen or so stairs. We will get higher (and I'm not referring to the girls toking on some Mary Jane that we saw halfway up the hill).

Here we are looking clean and well-dressed before we got tired and sweaty at the peak of the ascent.

Up more uphill:

Stop. Take picture. Use picture-taking as excuse for a rest on the ascent:

But the views are getting nicer the higher we climb:

Up:

Lots of yucca along the path up. Huge giant prehistoric-looking yucca:

Along the way is the Saint Nicholas Church, or Crkva sv. Nikole, as they say in the local tongue:

Now the front:

And, finally, after a ton more of stairs, we reach the summit. And we find ...

Yet another stray cat.

But there's also a view to the giant Croatian flag that sits atop the summit.

It's barely visible at the peak of the mountain in that picture. Which means, even though we've climbed to the summit of the trail, we're not yet at the summit where the flag is.

So I keep walking. But it's level for awhile. So the photos are being taken of the view for realz, and not just as an excuse to restz.

Children playing at a playground at the summit.

 I know there's no way they could've walked this. Perhaps they took the train:

I would've had I known.

 The view to the north shows the industrial side of Split, which isn't too visible in this picture.

Then is another uphill climb, again with the options of lots of steps on the direct route or a longer ascent on a paved road. I took the road and soon was rewarded with this:

The cross atop Marjan Hill that is visible from the City of Split below.

But it's not as prominent -- and it's a little lower than -- the giant Croatian flag atop Marjan Hill.

Nice view of the city from the real true summit point.

Looking down on the city:

Proof I was here:

The view of Split and the Adriatic from where the flag is.

Selfie me!

And, after a few brief moments at the summit, it's time to begin the descent.

Doviđenja, Giant Croatian Flag.

Descending. Again, more yucca:

Getting lower (and closer to Split harbor).

At the harbor, back at sea level:

The shadows are growing longer on the Riva:

Supper was the gnocchi with shrimps and prsut. It was excellent, but I tasted no prawn, only gnocchi and prsut. I'm not complaining.

And then it was time for Froggyland!

What is Froggyland? An opportunity not to be missed!

507 frog people!

Actually, it's 507 taxidermy frogs posed in true-to-life situations, such as a school day, or an athletics contest, or a courtroom scene (my personal favorite for obvious reasons), or a day in the park. Awesome is an understatement.

Unfortunately, no photography is allowed within Froggyland past the point of this one over-stuffed frog at the entrance.

Laku noć from Split.

Split Tour: Under the Palace

Hanging out in Diocletian's Basement

The most interesting thing about Split, Croatia, is the fact that the core of the Old City is Diocletian's Palace, the estate built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian for his retirement years after his abdication in A.D. 305. It continuously has been part of the city since then, but not in a reverent "leave only footprints, take only pictures" sort of way. Building stones from the palace were taken to build other structures about town. Homes, shops, restaurants, churches, synagogues, have all been built into the walls of the palace. It's a living, functioning city. It's not a static museum. It's been that way for over 1700 years.

So today was the day to take a walking tour of the Old City, which meant a walking tour of Diocletian's Palace and the area outside the walls.

The walking tour of Split begins on the Riva, the waterfront pedestrian promenade. What does the Riva have to do with Diocletian? After all, that picture doesn't look very Roman.

The south gate into Diocletian's Palace was from the water. Thus, the promenade in front of the south walls is built on reclaimed land.

The southern entrance being from the sea was important strategically.

Below is the Split of today, with Diocletian's Palace occupying the area in the foreground.

And this is an artistic rendering of the old Diocletian's Palace:

It looked more palace-y back then. And while much of the core palace remains, much has been lost.

But the basement is relatively intact, so let's take a look-see.

I toured Diocletian's Palace when I visited Split in 2014. But I did not tour the palace's basement because it was closed to visitors back then,

They were using it to film "Game of Thrones."

We had a tour guide that was explaining the development of Split and why it was a strategic location. Although the palace was Emperor Diocletian's retirement home, he still cared about home security.

Into the basement.

Here is the tour guide explaining to us the history of the building. This room was for storage. Perhaps grain. Perhaps furniture that Diocletian replaced with newer, trendier stuff but couldn't throw away because it still was perfectly good. The true reason is lost to history.

I believe that this room was the room in Diocletian's Palace that the guide told us was used as the Dragon Room in "Game of Thrones." Not ever having watched "Game of Thrones" -- yes, I am the one -- I do not know what a Dragon Room is and if this particular elongated chamber could be used for such purposes. But let's call this the G-O-T Dragon Room.

Here is a sphinx carted back from Egypt.

Yes, that is too a Sphinx. Diocletian loved Egyptian artifacts because he made himself a name as a military leader from his Egyptian campaigns. So, yes, I am comfortable calling this chamber "the Sphinx Room."

Here are people taking a picture of a modern plaster bust based on an assumption of what Diocletian looked like.

They used coins from the era to make a guess.

Some of the basement is now exposed.

Looking back into the basement:

Cats in the basement:

Children on the balcony.

People in front of the Cathedral outside the entrance to the core palace:

Bored children being forced to draw something on the other side of the plaza. The cathedral? Diocletian himself? Maybe the d*mn dragon who lives in the Dragon Room.

I did not look over the shoulders of the djeca to see for certain,

And this is the cathedral they would have / should have been looking at:

Off to the north gate, the gate to which barbarian hordes would come looking for some pillaging.

This is the statue of Grgur Ninski, Gregory of Nin:

The statue is by noted Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, or, to use the local spelling, Ivan Meštrović. He, Mr. Nimski, not Mr. Mestrovic, was one of the ones who wanted to preach and say mass in the local vernicular and not Latin.

And there is a dog sleeping in the sun at Voćni Trg, or, in English, Fruit Square:

The tour ended and it was time for lunch. Lunch again was cevapcici.

Not nearly as good as the cevapcici in Montenegro. In fact, this cevapcici tasted a little like Jimmy Dean's. But it was all washed down with a good radler.

A radler because I was parched after all that walking. This particular radler was barely beer, with an alcohol content of 2%. Your body would process that before it would affect you.