Friday – The day of Venus. Our morning kicked off with a jaunt across town on Roman public transport. I’ll follow up with a post on how to get around Rome. Our scheduled tour was of the Colosseum and the Roman forum. The tour was booked off of the Roman Guy’s site and included the upper sections of the Colosseum.
The Colosseum
We met our tour guide near the Colosseum metro station. He was wearing a Beatles shirt and had a Pirate flag. We found our man. The Colosseum took eight years to build and was completed in year 80 of the common era. Given its history, it has held together well. Originally a lake was at its location and when drained made for an excellent below stage area.
The tour allowed us to avoid the line to get in and get to the upper restricted levels of the Colosseum. Up here in the cheap seats we had a great view of the entire bowl. Ascending even higher we reached the section where women, who were not allowed to sit with men, were seated to watch events.
Our guide explained the ancient Roman usage of this place. Beyond the obviously known gladiator fights it was used for plays, poetry, and music performances. Devin and Linda had read that the Colosseum could be flooded to simulate sea battles but our tour guide said that it was debatable because no evidence had been found of waterproofing to hold the water in. Much of the original was destroyed in a fire in 217 so there is a possibility the reconstruction didn’t include it.
The Forum
Leading us out of the Colosseum our guide took us to the Roman forum which was the center of day to day life in ancient Rome. Not much of the ruins are left as the stones we used to build other buildings in and around Rome after its fall. The forum starts with the Arch of Titus which depicts the Romans conquering Israel.
Our guide was great at avoiding stairs when possible for members of our group who were struggling. However, there are a lot of steps to get up to the top of the Palatine Hill. For this vantage point you can catch a great view of the Forum and the surrounding region.
Our guide had a great picture book that had renderings of artistic impressions of the forum in its day compared to what it is now. It was an excellent aid in his talk and provided a realism that would have been missing had we explored on our own.
Cats!
After grabbing lunch in an Irish pub, we headed toward the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary. Among old ruins of Roman temples 150 cats are sheltered by an organization. Many of the cats are feral and some are tolerant of humans. Devin found a few new friends and probably wanted to stay the rest of the day but we pulled her away so we could get some wine on the terrace at our apartment.
