The Cathedral of Sveti Duje, occupying what was once Emperor Diacletion’s Mausoleum, was inaugurated in the 8th century as a Christian church and became a cathedral in the mid 10th century.

The sweeping views over the port and palace from the adjoining bell tower are worth the climb. At the bottom of the tower there is a stone relief depicting Mary giving Jesus a bath. I don’t recall ever seeing such an image before.

In the baptistery nearby, once a Temple of Jupiter, there is a fine panel relief of the Croatian King Zvonimir, an impressively carved stone ceiling and a powerful bronze of John the Baptist sculpted by Ivan Meštrović.

Later in the day we watched a storm roll in with roaring thunder and magnificent lightning. The gentle Adriatic we view from where we are staying was suddenly a snarl of crashing waves.