The Roman City of Salona

A 20 minute bus ride from Split takes us to the archeological site of Salona. Once the former capital of Dalmatia, this was no small Roman town. At its peak, it held 60,000 people and contained many key Roman city features such as a wall, an amphitheater and thermal baths. Due to its close proximity to Split and very few tourists, it makes a great half day trip.

Welcoming us to Salona was a map that listed all the places to explore. There are signs posted throughout with full English translations. Some are a bit sun bleached, but still provide great information.

The first site is actually situated outside the city walls (and also before you hit the ticket centre). The Manastirine contains the remains of a basilica and cemetery (complete with some empty stone coffins) and had beginnings way back in the 2nd century B.C. as a pagan necropolis. St Domnius, the patron saint of Split was originally buried here.

A picture of the entrance to the basilica looking in.

The ticket office and the bathrooms are in this building. There is also a small museum dedicated to the archeologist, Frane Bulić, who discovered Salona. If ruins are your thing, consider buying a joint ticket to the Archeological Museum in Split (this is NOT the same as the Museum of Archeology) to save a few euro.

A beautiful lined pathway with a table at the end and a water fountain off to the side. Also one of the few shaded areas in the site. It was a great place to rest on our way back.

The site begins with a walk on what remains of the city walls (which originally took several hundred years to build). This is the view of the old part of the city from the highest point on the walls.

Even though there are signs posted at the main sites, there are interesting remains everywhere.

The Episcopal Centre, the main heart of the city and hub of Christian activity, now a graveyard of columns. The city was destroyed in the 7th Century A.D. by invaders.

This place felt rather wild in parts. As in not everything is fully excavated and not all of the sites have been cleaned down to stone and bare ground. The landscape is just kind of reclaiming little nooks and crannies.

We were able to wander all around the site and go in and out of the buildings. A lot of the lower walls are very well preserved, and even some windows. I’m pretty sure that round window has a story…

One of the baths (thermae), the cold pool, still exists in decent shape with the floor, walls, and seating intact. There are also remains of the dressings rooms, massage rooms, exercise rooms, and heated steam rooms which were warmed via a furnace and ceramic piping.

This is the Bridge of Five arches which shows the location of a few things. One, where a main road crossed the city. Two, the location and size of an ancient river, now all dried up.

The remains of Porta Caesarea, the monumental eastern city gate, flanked by two towers. There are actually three entrances in one here. The main wide area was for carts and horses, but on the left and right are two narrow hallways for pedestrians to go through.

After leaving the main city area, we walked towards the amphitheater which is not as close as it appears on the map, but still a lovely walk beside olive tree groves. Olives were ripe when we went (in October), so we got to watch some of the harvesting techniques in action (one of which includes something that looks like an electric rake that “rakes” the olives off the trees and onto a tarp below).

Along the way, we visited the 16 sarcophagi. These were accidentally discovered, and would’ve been placed beside the road on the way to and from the city. Most were from 4th century A.D., but one appears to have been made almost 100 years earlier and re-purposed.

Built around 200 A.D., this amphitheater once held 17,000 spectators. Now, only the substructures remain.

These pillars are still over 10 feet tall, and give a certain scale as to how massive the original structure must’ve been (which had three viewing tiers).

Sadly, the destruction of the amphitheater was quite “recent” compared with its age and probably could’ve lasted to this day. It was torn down by Venetians in the 17th Century A.D for “strategic purposes”.