Food & history - the last days of Rome

I started Thursday with the Italian breakfast of champions: torta with pistachio, nutella and ricotta. Buzzz!

Torta with pistachio, nutella, ricotta

I then sped to the Colosseum were we were shown around by a wonderfully camp guide named Tiberius. In spite of the damage done when an earthquake destroyed part of the outer ring of arches, it's still impressively large and high.

Colosseum & passageways

Colosseum exterior

Garden of Vestal Virgins

Although we weren't allowed down below, what I could see of the complex underneath the arena floor looked just as well planned. Especially when added to stories of how the arena was originally able to be flooded and was afterwards changed to house hydraulic lifts to allow the animals and gladiators direct access to the arena floor.

We then went straight into the old Roman Forum; the social centre of the ancient city. The ruins included temples (Capitoline Jupiter, Apollo, Venus, Saturn and one in memory of the divine Julius (Caesar)). This was also where the Vestal Virgins' convent was based.

There were also several triumphal arches, with the one pictured being that of Titus and commemorating the sack of Jerusalem (notice the menorah). Under the arch is now a sacred space for Judaism and it's off limits for tours.

The touring for the day was rounded off with the Palatine Hill, where many of the emperors and other bigwigs had their palaces. Then it was back to the hostel, past the 'wedding cake'.

'The Dying Gaul'

Thursday was mostly spent in the Capitoline Museum. This place has a huge array of sculptures including a bronze of Marcus Aurelius that only survived because the early Christians thought it was Emperor Constantine and my fave, the 'Dying Gaul'; loving the spiky hair!


Thursday evening was spent in a bar in Trastevere, with a great group of people involved in couch surfing. Thanks for the travel tips and the free meze!

'Wedding cake'

Romulus & Remus

Couchsurfers in Trastevere

The weekend entailed a trip to the Catacombs of St Calixtus. Spooky stuff! There's kilometres of caverns under the outskirts of the city, all used for early Christian burials. Talk about claustrophobic!

I balanced this out with a visit to Ostia Antica; the extensive remains of what used to be Rome's port town, although now it's several kilometres from the sea. We'll see how it compares with Pompeii.

After that it was the perennial search for Irish pubs that would be showing the rugby. At least it was worth it!