Ancient Rome

 Yesterday morning, on our agenda, we had a tour of Ancient Rome.  You canNOT come to Rome without seeing this stuff.

We met up with our guide in the morning and a group of us started off with the Roman Forum.  I won’t bore you with all the spots we stopped at, but here are a couple of shots of the Forum from atop Palatine Hill.  This forum dates back to about the 8th C. BC.  The age of this stuff is incredible.




And this is apparently the tomb of Julius Caesar.  Why people drop flowers there, I have no idea.  He was not the nicest person!


And this is the Arch of Constantine - if I get this correctly - the first Roman Emperor who adopted Christianity.  He was in charge in the early 4th century, so around 325 AD.


And, of course, the Colosseum.  Outside, then in.



This is the Colosseum inside.  You can see people standing at the other end on a floor.  That’s where the floor used to be.  Everything in the middle is what was under ground and where they kept the animals and people who would be on display and fight.  They’d bring them up to the floor and “perform” in front of the thousands of people who would be sitting there.  The poor animals were not care for at all.  For that matter, some of the people weren’t either :(

This is a little closer look at what’s underneath the floor.


What amazes me about all of this is the age.  The Colosseum was built around 75 AD.  The name is from the Greek word “kolossos” meaning large or giant.  It is the largest of its kind in the world.  It held about 60,000 people, and is still standing - albeit not in great shape, but it’s here and is absolutely massive.

After we were done here, we went back to our place.  We’ve been using “it Taxi” through an app.  Pretty convenient and a good way for us to get around.  Again, it is so hot here.  Being out in the sun and crowds drains us.  So we crashed for a bit, then headed out to the Trastevere area of Rome - known for its restaurants.  We picked a good one (recommended by our hostesss here) and enjoyed the evening.  This was a Tiramisu we all shared.









Comments

  1. GerryJuly 3, 2025 at 6:16 PM

    You could pass for a renowned Roman historian. As you say, the age and durability of this architecture is amazing! So fortunate to see it in person!

    ReplyDelete

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