We caught the metro to Roma Termini, so we were sure of our departure route on Monday, then used the other metro line to go to Circus Maximus. Very few people seemed interested to walk around here which claims to be the largest entertainment venue ever built anywhere. You will recall the chariot race from Ben Hur which involved 7 laps with sharp turns at each end. Betting on these races was a national obsession and there were huge stabling areas for the horses, and some of these buildings survive in ruin form.
As we walked around the preserved city centre area, we saw huge arches (nearly as big as the Arc de Triomphe), rows of tall columns and curved buildings.
One very high pillar had carvings all the way to the top.
There was an aqueduct bridging a hollow and many other pieces of evidence of the clever things the Romans did with the reticulation of water.
Just outside the ancient monument area was the Colloseum. Like Mont Saint Michel, and Uluru, the best part is the walk up to it and around the base.
We were approached by three people offering a tour for 40 euros per person. The entry fee was 12, but the queue for getting inside was very long and the exit was a stream of people six wide. We found a few corridors where they had not blocked the view from outside so we took photos and wondered why thousands of people every day are so keen to see the inside walls, which do not appear to be much different from the outside.
Scaffolding is inevitable. Good place for wedding photos.
Malcolm bought an umbrella in Dinan to prepare for rain but we are now using the umbrellas nearly every day for sun protection. We thought of the thousands of workers laying millions of small bricks to build the old city in the sun. In contrast we walked all the way back to our Guest House under our umbrellas and bunkered down like wusses in the air-conditioned room for the afternoon.
We were able to take a virtual time machine/aerial view trip over the original city courtesy of a map that we got from MacMaster's Beach book fair.
Colloseum at the top and Circus Maximus at the bottom.
A great day of education, where we felt more than any other time that we were in close contact with Europe year dot.
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