Diocletian's Palace: the living ruin

Not a museum — a neighbourhood people still live in, built inside a Roman emperor's retirement palace. Two hours through the cellars, the Peristil, the cathedral that was once a mausoleum.

Split began as one building: the palace a tired emperor built to grow cabbages in, around the year 305. Sixteen centuries later people are still living in it — hanging their washing between the columns, running bars out of the guardrooms. That's what makes it special, and that's what this walk is about. What we'll see: • The substructures — the vast Roman cellars that held the palace up • The Peristil, the ceremonial heart, and why the sphinx is Egyptian • The Cathedral of St Domnius — a Roman mausoleum turned church, with the man who built it still watching from the frieze • The Jupiter temple, the Golden Gate, and the lanes only locals use Priced per person, and the rate drops the more of you there are, so it works whether you're a couple or a family. Comfortable shoes — the stone is polished slick by 1,700 years of feet.