Here I am again, for the 100th time on Split Personality Blog, and hoping for many, many more! Little by little, Split turns into a city of film festivals, even this year when many events of that kind were cancelled or postponed. In July, we enjoyed Mediterranean Film Festival, which was originally scheduled in its usual early June. Following all epidemiology guidelines, open air cinema Bačvice hosted films from around the Mediterranean, but also Latin America as a separate program. In the ... More

When speaking of heritage in Split, first idea is usually ancient Rome and Emperor Diocletian. The second one is Christianity, with Split being one of the centres of faith in Croatia. However, influences on that heritage are various, sometime with strange twists. It's enough to see Egyptian sphinxes scattered in public spaces and museums, or traces of thousands of years of Jewish presence in this area. Some of those signs of different influences are in the same time among those hidden gems ... More

Tourism is back in Croatia, and Split, with re-opening of borders, and in spite of sudden increase of new COVID-19 cases pretty much everywhere. It's very, very far away from visits we got used to in previous years, but even short walk around Split gives an impression of season. What can we offer to them, to let them have vacation as close as possible to some earlier, normal times? Here is a product Tourist Board of Split has for families with children arriving to our town - a tourist map of ... More

Split was never very shy in any kind of celebrations or festivities, but nothing can be compared with celebrating city's patron saint Domnio, or Domnius. City is so well identified with that martyr and bishop from Roman city of Salona, that people in Split ("Splićani") usually call him by more local version of his name Duje. Moreover, over centuries Duje became the Split-most male name. Throughout whole history of Split, Duje became "one of us", even though he was executed ... More

Recent Split Marathon was a huge success, thousands of people took part in this celebration of running, some of them on full size marathon, much more for half marathon. Once again, Split was sporting capital of Croatia, and there is nothing to say but to wish them many, many years of this wonderful event. Results are available on Marathon's web site, but even more important is that Split is now marked on world running map, as a place which gives a lot of opportunities for possibly the ... More

Whenever I guide my guests to the old Jewish cemetery in Marjan forest park there is one detail which always gets my, and my guests' attention. Close to the upper end of the slope with a 16th-century cemetery one gravestone has three names of the same family, Daniti, and only two dates of their death. Izidor Daniti and his son Vito died on March 14, 1938, and their wife and mother Laura passed away two days later. I always liked to reveal those daily stories from old Split, and even such ... More

There is only a couple of days till Christmas, I hope presents are under trees, food more or less prepared, just in time for festivities. Just like anywhere else in Christian world, Christmas is special in Split and Dalmatia, this part of Croatia has a lot of holiday traditions coming from its rich history. So, what to do to blend in, and celebrate Christmas like real Splićanin? Although festivities begin days before, don't miss to spend a morning before Christmas with all those people who will ... More

A few years ago I wrote a blog about Dalmatian traditions about All Saints Day (November 1). Back then, I mentioned one custom which is not as spiritual as the very nature of that day. Yes, All Saints Day is religious holiday, but just like almost any other of that kind it's followed with some traditional treat. In this case, it's called bobići (pron. bohbeechy), at least in Split. Elsewhere those little brown, white or (in some places) pink sweet balls are known as favete, favetti, or in ... More

Vacation can always have its downsides, with many bad things that can happen to us. There is no popular destination which is immune of crime, incidents, accidents, etc. There is only a difference how often they happen, or how bad they can go. Split is not an exception. It is considered as a safe place, just like Croatia in general, especially compared to some bigger and busiest cities or resorts. We can start with something very obvious - nowhere in Croatia you will see armoured vehicles and ... More

There are many stories and legends about Emperor Diocletian, some of them related to Split and Dalmatia. For example, walking at the western end of Riva promenade always brings not so pleasant smell. It's neither sewage nor pollution, but one of possible reasons for Diocletian to build his retirement home right there. Namely, one of those stories about Diocletian - accepted even among historians - says that he chose this location because of sulphur springs, with water helping him to cure his ... More