Rome, Italy

This morning we wandered east away from the Colosseum past the ruins Nero's Thermal Baths, the second largest baths in Rome. The original entrance is about five minutes walk from base and the footprint of the baths is 190m x 120m - enormous! Carrying on we came across a reasonably large shopping street with much better supermarkets than the night before and got supplies for lunch & dinner. We came across a church service being held at Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore founded in the 5th century and known for it's beautiful gilded ceilings and roman mosaic tiles.

Back home and a quick lunch before we headed over to join a guided tour of the Colosseum, Palantine Hill and the Roman Forum. The Colosseum was built in eight years. Apparently have been trying to build a new metro across the road since 1989. I dare say every time they dig a hole, the archaeologists get called in, there is just so much history everywhere. Back in the day Rome had a population of 1.5 million people and the Colosseum could hold 50,000. Tickets were at a premium for the executions, gladiator fights and they had clay tickets for entry advising the gate to go through. Despite reducing the capacity of people going through since covid, it was packed.

Next was Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. The remains of the aqueduct apparently brought water 91 kms. And the Roman Forum covers an extensive area. We thought Herculaneum was impressive but the scale of these buildings is phenomenal. How did the even construct them back then, and how are they still standing? I tried to take a picture of Pete next to some of the columns but I couldn't get it all in.

We were herded out at closing time, and headed further around to view the Victor Emmanuel Monument completed in 1911 to mark the 50th anniversary of Italy's unification. Rick Steve's quote can describe it better than I ever could "The scale of the monument is over the top. 200 feet high, 500 feet wide. The 43 foot tall statue of the king on his high horse is one of the biggest equestrian statues in the world. The kings moustache forms an arc five feet long, and a person could sit within the horse's hoof." There were a lot of stairs but the view was worth it. The gleaming, white, grandiose building gives a good idea of what Ancient Rome looked like at it's peak.