Lions and Tigers and Gladiators, oh my!

 

We were regaling the Italians with tales of the ancient building in our homeland where we used to practice blood sports.  They did not seem particularly impressed to hear about the Pacific Coliseum.

Change the location and the spelling and go back a couple thousand more years and it’s a whole different story.  The Roman Colosseum is most impressive indeed.  As we’d done for the Vatican, we had organized a skip-the-line early morning tour online, and it saved us an enormous amount of grief fighting the crowds trying to buy same-day tickets.

We hit the jackpot with the tour guide we were assigned to.  Imagine Robin Williams in his most manic moments and then add about five cups of espresso.  That was Alessandra.  She was absolutely nuts, but we learned more about Roman history than we could have gotten in any classroom setting.  She started the tour by telling us we would all die by the end of it, and then assigned roles to various individuals from the tour group. One guy was Julius Caesar, one was Nero, one was Titus, etc., etc.

As we toured the Colosseum, we heard about the violent history of the building and the people who governed ancient Rome, and that “natural causes” was not a frequent entry on death certificates back in the day.  Every once in a while, one of the role players in our group was required to run another one through with a tour flag to dispatch him from this mortal life.  Some were asked to suicide themselves in the same fashion.  The toll was substantial by tour's end, but even the fatalities had a good time.

We climbed to the upper levels of the Colosseum and got some amazing views and stories.  We did not tour the lower level were the lions and gladiators had their dressing rooms.  Available tours for that area have been reduced to a very small number, and are likely to be discontinued altogether before long.

The tour also included the adjacent Palantine Hill and Roman Forum, and they were pretty much as impressive as the Colosseum itself.

Also notable in the area was Circus Maximus, where the ancient Romans used to hold their chariot races.  This was not part of the tour, but we had a great look at it the day before during one of our lengthy walks about town.

We both agree that the 3 1/2 hour tour that we had was well worth the money.  We’re not usually inclined to sign up for guided tours, but we’re really glad we made this exception. With the early hour of our tour, we had a lot of the day left to explore other attractions on our own, and there are many.  

We find that we are walking between 19 and 20 kilometres each day in Rome.  The guys who are flogging tickets for the hop-on hop-off bus are getting quite frustrated with us.

 

The Colosseum is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built (completed in 80 AD), and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world.

 

Watch where you walk on the ancient stones. Running shoes are a MUST!

Fresh water from one of the hundreds of aquafer outlets in Rome. Fresh, cold, clean drinkable water. 

Meet Alessandra, our crazy (and I mean CRAZY) good tour guide. She had people acting out the history of Rome with murders and suicides and gladiator fights. We learned so much!

 

 

Our first images walking into the Colosseum

Never mind the ragged look, it was over 30C out here!

 

 

Palantine Hill, adjacent to the Coliseum. This was the place of the business of Rome including government and courts. 

Another excellent reward for a day well attended.