#2711 vacation day 12: Ancient Rome

It is 4:30 n the afternoon here. We just finished lunch at a delightful little restaurant just across the street from the hotel. MT is having a siesta, and I’ll take this time to catch up on writing while my toes are cozily tucked into some slippers provided by the hotel. 

I can’t begin to describe how tender my feet feel right now. Yesterday’s walk around the city was epic, and today we have already walked over 14,000 steps, nearly six miles. Let me tell you about it:

This morning we visited the Colosseum. It is only about a mile away from the hotel, so easily walkable, and quite easy to find with our map app. The tour began around 9:30, and since we have a habit of getting turned around or taking the wrong street, we left around 8:15 or so after breakfast at the hotel. The forecast was for rain and it was chilly this morning. I wore layers.

We got to the Colosseum in plenty of time for the tour. Like everything else in Rome, the place is huge.

First view of the Colosseum!

We met our guide, John, and our five tour-mates near Constantine’s Arch. Fun fact, the Colosseum had already been in use over 200 years before this arch was built. 

We spent quite a bit of time inside the Colosseum. John, the guide, was knowledgeable and interesting, and what I liked most about his tour was when he told us to imagine what it must have been like and then he created the scene for us with words. What we can see now is less than a third of what it was actually like. Something I didn’t know was that a lot of building materials from the Colosseum were taken to build other things in the city, including St. Peter’s Basilica, and many other things. It is kind of hard to wrap my mind around the amount of time the building has been in existence. Another thing that is hard to fathom is what the building was actually used for: death. 75,000 people packed into the place to witness men killing other men, animals and men fighting each other to the death, and even naval battles being reenacted. Yes! The ancient Romans sometimes filled the Colosseum with water and staged naval battles. Convicted men were used for these death matches. No one was expected to survive. That’s hardcore shit. 

Here are some photos from inside the Colosseum:

A view from where the upper class would sit

This area was under the arena floor. This is where the gladiators and animals would be.

Panoramic view!

Inside 

After awhile, I admit that I became numb. It’s just a lot to take in.

Next we went to Palatine Hill. This is where the emperor’s palace was. Of course, all that’s left are ruins. We are talking about Ancient Rome, which spans from the founding of the city in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Empire in the 5th century AD. 

John did a great job of explaining what it would have been like in the time of the early emperors. He had pictures of what historians and archeologists think it would have looked like. It is all very interesting and very hard for me to wrap my brain around, so I enjoyed the views.

Of course, St. Peter’s wasn’t there when the Emperors lived on Palatine Hill, but I couldn’t resist the photo!

From Palatine Hill, it is a quick walk to the Roman Forum, the center of everything in Ancient Rome. It’s where public meetings were held, where the law courts were (in buildings called basilicas, by the way), and markets were set up. It was basically the center of the city.

There is also a very nice view of the Colosseum!

This was a pagan temple to Romulus (founder of Rome) that was turned into a Christian church.

Titus’s Arch, showing the soldiers returning to Rome with the spoils of war, including the Golden Menorah 

The tour went over the scheduled time by nearly an hour. I wasn’t mad about it, but honestly, I was full of history, feeling thirsty, and my feet were hurting. MT suggested we walk over to the Pantheon - it was only about 10 minutes away from where we were, and I thought I might actually cry, but I would have done it. MT changed his mind, though, thankfully. We will definitely see the Pantheon in the next couple of days. 

We walked back to the hotel to leave our jackets, then crossed the street to the restaurant. We had a good meal! We started with a salami sampler and bruschetta with tomatoes. MT had grilled lamb chops and I had pasta with caccio e pepe. 

Just what was needed!

It looks like the sky is clouding up a little. I’m not sure what our plan is for the rest of the day. I’ve been writing for awhile and MT is still snoozing. We will probably go out later for a gelato, at least. There’s a shop just down the street, of course.

I’ll be updating past posts with photos, plus I have to tell you about the food tour we did last night in Trastevere. It was unbelievable!