SPLIT, CROATIA

                                  Split is a City

            Split, with a population of 200,000, is Croatia’s largest city on the Adriatic Coast and the country’s second largest city. Founded in the 3^rd century, the picturesque ancient city lies between a high mountain range and the palm tree-lined waterfront pedestrian promenade. Strolling the waterfront or sitting in a café are popular pastimes. The ocean view includes sandy beaches, rocky cliffs and unspoiled islands. One of the sunniest spots in Europe, the   premier resort town has breath-taking views of beautiful blue Adriatic waters that contrast with high coastal mountains.

            The city is a living museum of classical and medieval architecture and archeology. Expanded industry, a shipyard, limestone quarry and a commercial-military port are all located on the north end of the city. An aqueduct built in the 3^rd century and repaired in the 19^th century is still in use supplying water for the entire city.

            Old town has two square-shaped sections; to the east is the Diocletian Palace and to the west lies the medieval town. The summer residence of Emperor Diocletian took ten years to build and was finished in 305. The UNESCO site was built as his retirement palace. In 600 AD, some 2000 people moved into the palace to establish the city of Split.

            One of the last buildings built by Romans, the palace is at the heart of Split’s history.  The fortress-like palace, with walls 590 feet by 705 feet, originally had 16 towers. One of the rectangle towers on the right is original. Small churches were built in several of the 16 wall towers and bell towers were added. Today 3000 people live and work within the palace walls. In the Middle Ages nobility and rich merchants built residences within the old palace walls. There are 200 buildings within the palace.

            Originally the palace south wall was at the water’s edge. Now reclaimed land provides  a wide street and a tree lined promenade, placing the palace several meters from the water.

            The Diocletian lived on the sea side of the palace with its 42 arched windows. Servants lived viewless on the inside. The front door was originally the back door, and when the water level was high it was only accessible by boat. The palace cellars, 305 AD, are Europe’s largest Roman underground structure.  Originally they held water, not liquor, and were built to level the lower first floor. Today it is a gallery for souvenir stands.

             Cathedral St. Domnus is located in the Peristyle, a square in the center of the palace.  Originally the octagon shaped structure was a mausoleum. After the fall of Rome, it was converted to a cathedral taking 300 years to complete.  Multi colored marble pillars highlight the baroque interior. The ornately carved Romanesque door dates to 1214. The cathedral remains in daily use. The church bell tower is 13^th century. The stone pulpit is unusual; the baroque altar is white marble. The   Golden Gate is the former main entrance. The entry vestibule to living quarters is impressive.  Emperors were believed to be gods, and called themselves Jovius, son of Jupiter, most powerful of all gods.

             Diocletian Palace was home to administrative prowess, but also was used for feeding pesky Christians, unwilling to worship him, to the lions. A gate in the palace wall led to a pillared courtyard where the emperor received homage of subjects. It descends into a maze of ancient underground rooms that apparently were used as a city dump until the 1970s. It also served as a discothèque at one time. The garbage of centuries ago has been cleaned out, but the place still smelled musty. It is the largest underground structure in Europe. Large stone vessels made from a single piece of stone once were used to store olive oil. Now many of them are used as flower planters.

            Marble paves Old Town’s streets. The black sphinx, one of 13, is the only complete one. The medieval town of Split took shape within the palace walls. The palace is the centerpiece of the old section of the city. The area is a virtual open-air museum with the city’s contemporary life bustling through it. The maze of narrow alleys is lined with fashionable boutiques, cafés and Roman artifacts. Red granite columns, from Egypt, can be seen everywhere.

            Just through the back gate stands a larger than life bronze statue of St. Gregory. It was removed from a small square where the huge statue overwhelmed it. Cut into three pieces it was moved and reconstructed. The huge statue showcases in the large courtyard. The tour of the Diocletian Palace took two and a half hours with a local docent. It is huge and considering its age and tools available at the time of its building, it just boggles the mind. It is an amazing feat and a big window into life in ancient times. It was a fascinating and informative visit.

PANAMA CANAL

                     The Canal Transit

            At 7:15 AM our Panamanian narrator was already on the loud speaker. He kept us informed all day during the eight hour, 50-mile canal passage. During breakfast we learned that forty ships a day transit the canal bringing 500 million dollars to Panama. In a year over 13,000 ships from 79 countries make the trip. The canal is often referred to as lifting a ship up and over Central America. If all the excavated dirt was put on a train it would circle the earth four times! The Canal saves 2000 miles if ships had to sail around the tip of South America. All arrangements must be made and paid for in cash in advance of transit and fees are based on tonnage; a different fee scale is used for laden ships and for ships in ballast.

It was a beautiful day and we spent all of it up on deck taking it in all the activity. For those who have not read any of the books on the building of the canal I’ll relay a few of the many things we learned.

In 1850 a canal railroad was built over a 300 year old mule trail. In the late 1800s a French Company attempted to build a canal but disease (malaria, plague, and yellow fever), rain, mud, scandal, corruption and the loss of 16-20,000 lives eventually bankrupted the company. The US negotiated a favorable treaty with Panama in 1903 and started construction. The geographically   stable area was a big consideration for the site of the canal.   

In 1904 Col. William Gorges undertook the problems of sanitation and the task of eliminating mosquito breeding areas in the jungle. Ten years later, in 1914, the canal was complete. It had taken 75,000 men to build this marvel, often referred to as one of the man made wonders of the world.

There are three locks 110-feet wide and 1050-feet long on each end of the canal. Each lock has two chambers, side by side, so ships can go in either direction at the same time. Four and a half million cubic feet of concrete were used for the locks and dam. The gates are seven feet thick. The drop and rise in each lock is 28 feet. The water drops 39-inches a minute through 18-inch culverts. All the water in the locks and lakes is fresh fed by the mighty Chagras and two smaller rivers.

The ship captain gives up  control of his ship to a canal pilot before the beginning of the transit. In the lock all operations are under the control of the lockmaster who sits in a small ‘lookout’ building—kind of like an airport control tower. Electric mules manage the lines once they are attached to ships in the locks. Each mule has an engineer sitting in the cab. General Electric built the original 39 mules for a total cost of $528,680. The new mules, built by Mitsubishi, cost  $2- million dollars each.

Miraflores Lake, at the end of the second lock, is a small lake with a yacht harbor at the north end. The Gaillard Cut, named for the engineer in charge of construction of this section, is now 500-feet wide, having been widened from its original 300-foot width. The cut is nine miles long and 40-feet deep.

The cook moved his kitchen onto the deck to provide us a wonderful BBQ lunch. He didn’t want us to miss any of the scenery.

In 1914 a mile long dam was built at the north end of Lake Gatun. The concrete spillway is clearly visible as you enter the Gatun locks. The dam is ½ mile wide at the base tapering to one hundred feet at the crest. It is 105’ above sea level and 20’ above the normal level of the lake. On the Atlantic side of the canal Gatun Lake is 87-feet above sea level. Gatun Lake was the largest man-made lake in the world until Lake Meade was created. It is a huge lake with many islands within its 164 square miles. The Smithsonian has a research center on Barrocaro Island, one of the larger islands. There are 140 miles of trails on that island, and it takes three to four months to obtain permission to land there.

The Atlantic entrance is 22 ½ miles west of the Pacific entrance. Because of the snake like direction of the canal the sun rises in the Pacific and sets in the Atlantic. The cost to build the Panama Canal was $400 million.

I made my transit before the canal control was handed over to Panama and there was a lot of controversy about it at the time. There also was a move afloat to enlarge the canal so newer bigger ships can transit it.

It was a long, hot, but exciting and informative day. I’m sure it becomes routine for the ship’s crew after a couple of transits, but for us it was a thrilling experience.

Columbus once described the Atlantic coast of the canal as a coast with contrary weather as it is most often rough. On our exit of the canal we were greeted with seven foot seas on the breach-- Columbus was right!