From Split: Diocletian's Palace, Klis Fortress & Trogir

The tour begins inside Diocletian's Palace — a uniquely hybrid structure that was simultaneously a Roman imperial residence and a military fortress, built between 298 and 305 AD for the Emperor Diocletian's retirement. The palace covers 30,000 square metres and houses an entire medieval and modern city within its walls: the emperor's mausoleum became the Cathedral of Saint Domnius; the Temple of Jupiter became a baptistery; the imperial apartments became medieval residences. Walk the Peristyle (the ceremonial courtyard where Diocletian received his subjects), the underground cellars (which preserve the original floor plan of the palace above), and the Golden Gate — the main northern entrance through the fortress walls.

Klis Fortress stands on a limestone ridge 360m above sea level at the narrow pass between the Mosor mountains — the strategic choke-point controlling all land access to Split and the Dalmatian coast. Founded by the Illyrian Dalmatae tribe in the 2nd century BC, it became the fortified capital of the Croatian Kingdom in the early medieval period, housing the Croatian royal court in the 11th century. In 1537 it was the last Dalmatian fortress to fall to the Ottoman Empire, ending 24 years of determined resistance by the Croatian captain Petar Kružić. Game of Thrones filmed the slave city of Meereen here in Season 5 — the fortress's dramatic silhouette against the Adriatic and the Dinara mountains is instantly recognisable from the show. The views from the battlements are among the finest in Dalmatia.

Trogir is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in the Mediterranean: a tiny island 300m long connected to the mainland and to Čiovo island by two drawbridges, with a complete urban fabric of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings in continuous use since the 3rd century BC. The Cathedral of Saint Lawrence contains Master Radovan's Romanesque portal (1240) — considered the greatest work of medieval sculpture in Croatia, with carved scenes of the life of Christ surrounded by hunting scenes, calendar images, and mythological figures. Kamerlengo Fortress, the Venetian coastal tower on the island's western tip, dates from the 1420s and preserved Trogir's independence from the Ottomans when the mainland fell.