"For the lovers of history and birds " a Solin Travel Page by diocletianvs

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO Solin was an industrial suburb of Split, known by its three cement and one asbestus factory that produced an enormous amount of white dust that was filling the air, making green leaves and red roof tiles look the same, covered in greyish colour.

2000 YEARS AGO Salona was the largest Roman city on the Eastern coast of the Adriatic, and the capital of Roman province of Dalmatia. It is estimated that Salona and the surrounding areas at one point had about 60,000 inhabitants. This was the birth place of the emperor Diocletian, who built his famous palace in the nearby Aspalathos (today Split). And also the place where Doimus, who later became the patron of Split, was killed and worshipped as the martyr.

1000 YEARS AGO Solin was the center of the early Croatian Kingdom. The legend says that this was the first place where Croats settled after arriving to these areas in 7th Century. There are no doubts that this was the corronation place of Croatian king Zvonimir and also the place where Queen Helena / Jelena was buried.

500 YEARS AGO area of Solin was the place of fierce fightings againts the Ottomans who conquered nearby Klis and were often trying to reach Split. Many ancient ruins didn?t survive these fights and were left as groups of stones to lie under the earth.

180 YEARS AGO modern archaeological excavations and research started in Solin, returning to the daily light forgotten glory of the big Roman city and smaller but also important monuments dating from the Early Croatian Kingdom.

50 YEARS AGO Solin was turned into an industrial suburb of Split, and its population rose drastically. It was the worker?s suburb, area of less fortunate who didn?t manage to get a flat in one of the socialist blocks built in Split. Noone really wanted to live here, but many were forced to.

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO Solin gained its independence as it split from Split and formed its separate municipality. Big clean-up projects were launched, including the installation of air filters on chimneys, big clean-up of the Jadro river, urban renewal of the central area and construction of two large parks: urban park in the center along the sides of Jadro river and the Archaeological park of Salona. For several years Solin was awarded the Green Award for the best clean-up and landscape projects in Croatia.

Today Solin is a small town with a population of almost 20,000 that rapidly transforms from its old image of dusty place. Only 20 minutes by public bus from the center of Split you?ll find that this town is not to be missed if you are in the area between Trogir and Split.

Tourist attractiveness of Solin today is based on two major stones:

Salona is often referred to as the “Croatian Pompeii”. The fact that the urban development was moved aside left this once biggest Roman city almost intact and covered with earth for centuries. So far only some 20 percent of the urban area of Salona is excavated and presented to the public. This is a great place to walk among the ancient ruins, to escape from the tourist crowds of Split and Trogir and also a good exercise for everyone’s imagination.

Although smaller in size churches and monuments of the Old Croatian Kingdom are significant remains of the time when Croatia was part of Europe with strong links with Popes and Charlemagne – although many have forgotten this and still refer to Croatia as “the young European Nation”.

For those who are not interested in old stone monuments and stories from the glorious history Solin offers completely different atmosphere of the town on the river, rich with green areas that are carefully kept green. Recently introduced bird colonies have become very popular among the kids and their parents coming here for weekend visits from the wide area between Trogir and Omis.