September 11 – All roads lead to: more pizza

We were up by 7 and prepared ourselves for the day, before heading downstairs and walking towards the Colosseum. We made our way across the roads and down to the Colosseum level and enjoyed the spectacular view.

We then made our way to the Arch of Constantine to meet our ticket host, he pointed us in the right direction and we lined up next to the ticket office.

Again the Italian organisation was not great, but this time it worked in our favour, we were in just after 8:30 and once we got ourselves sorted we started our self guided tour.

Listening to an audio guide we started with the Memorial Cross, which was added in 1926.

Then circled around to the arena floor. It was a partially reconstructed wooden platform where gladiators fought and was quite surreal to stand there and look at the Colosseum around us. With no time limit we took our time, sitting for a bit to take it all in.

We then continued to the second tier, and through the ambulatory where there were displays of original artefacts, models, and historical information about everything that happened inside.

We then made our way up through the tiered seating levels and walked the full length along the outer arcade. Each part opening out to views over the arena below on one side and the streets of Rome on the other.

Continuing downstairs we walked the final part of our tour on the ground level. We finished off with another look at the Colosseum from below as well as all the underground passageways.

Exiting the Colosseum we went back to thank our ticket host and he recommended doing the Roman forum next. So we found a cafe close by for a coffee and a few pastries. The coffee was very good and the pastries were too, although it was a bit of chocolate overload.

We then walked to the Roman forum entrance, starting first with Palatine Hill and made our way through a number of different sites including the Severan Arcades and past the remains of the Flavian Palace.

From there we walked through the Palatine Stadium, into the Temple of Isis and through the Domus Augustana Facade.

We then passed through some gardens to a viewpoint of the forum and Rome surrounds, then heading downstairs to the Houses of Augustus and Livia, which were very well preserved, and the walls still had the original painted plaster.

We then moved onto the Roman forum, starting with the Temple of Venus, which also had great views of the Colosseum.

Making our way through the rest of the forum we went past the Basilica of Maxentius, into the Temple of Romulus, and past the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. Then heading to the House of the Vestals, and down to the main path of the forum which had the Temple of Castor and Pollux, Basilica Giulia, Column of Phocas, Miliarium Aureum and much, much more. It was very surreal to walk through all of the sites, with some places being complete ruins, others almost completely intact.

Satisfied with how much Roman history we had consumed we decided to head out, although we had trouble finding the exit, with a few paths closed and others leading to more ruins.

When we finally found the exit, we walked along the main road towards the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, as we approached the entrance, the size of it was enormous, far bigger than we had thought. As we walked up the steps, we could see a lot of Rome around us and as we climbed, the views got better and better.

Arriving at the top of the free section, we walked around and took in all the sights. Then walking back down to the main street, we were quite exhausted so walked back to our hotel, via a pizza place for lunch to take back to our room.

We had a late lunch, a shower and a nap to cool off and refresh ourselves for the evening. Then headed back out, catching the bus to the Pantheon. Unable to get online tickets or tickets at the door we continued to the Trevi Fountain, it was packed! But we were able to snap a few pictures then find some gelato.

We enjoyed our gelato at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, then walked up to find a spot to watch the sunset. With many spots packed and a mini concert in a plaza we found a block to sit on and watch the sunset over the city and Vatican, while also capturing another timelapse.