Day 26 – May 11 Wednesday

Another lazy start with a very good breakfast, lengthy day planning session & on the way by 9am (this will change when we start our next tour).  Again past the Palazzo di  Giustizia & over the Ponte Umberto I this time, a very plain old bridge.  We took the more direct route through the Piazza Navone before emerging on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele.  We crossed over & had a look at the Area Sacra, the excavated ruins of four different Roman temples, all built at different times next to each other.  One had the fresco’s still visible, amazing after all this time (being buried helps I guess).  Very close by was the Chiesa del Gesu (another ruin facade) before we got to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II (on purpose this time).  This is a very impressive new (only 100 years old) monument that looks a little out of place, everything else is so old.  We climbed the many stairs (our knees were thankful when we stopped) & admired the magnificent statues before venturing inside, looking briefly at the displays then venturing outside upstairs.  The view from up top from the balcony is fantastic, as you move around the building you get a great vista over the city, more ruins very close by & the Colloseo in the near distance, plus all the church domes.

Next more serious looking ruins just across the road , the magnificent Colona Traiana, a column with fantastic continuous carvings going up the column in a spiral, telling a story in graphic detail of Emporor Trajan’s victories in Romania.  This is surrounded by the remains of Trajan’s Forum, then the remains just continue down this street, next is the Trajan Markets, next to the House of the Knights of Rhodes, next to the Forum of Augustus, next to the Forum of Nerva, next to the Forum of Julius Caesar, with the Mamertine Prison virtually underfoot.  All this history is staring you in the face from just one spot.  Then you turn your head & there is the magnificent Colloseom, it is huge & really stands out, so a short walk down the street & the crowds got thicker the closer we got.  There where people hawking guided tours outside & inside, the line would have done Disneyland proud, weaving in & out of columns, hiding the real number of people in line to get in.  We walked around the outside gazing in awe at the sheer size of this ancient blood sport building, built 1,900 years ago, a lot of it is still standing.  When we came to the Arch of Constantine we stopped & sat in the shade for a while to rest our weary legs & eat some fruit.  We were pestered continually by shady looking  hawkers trying to sell all manner of trinkets.

We walked back past the Palatino, another huge area of uncovered ruins & reached the Campidoglio, now used as the Museo Capitoli, where we had another stop for a leg rest in the shade ( it was hot & sunny hate  to think how hot it gets in high summer). We headed back down towards the river, past the Teatro Marcello (more ruins) before reaching the Ponte Fabricio  footbridge to the Isola Tiberina.  This island has a hospital & must be busy, there were ambulance with sirens blaring going to & from it.  We crossed to the other bank of the river on the Ponte Cestio & walked along the shady riverbank on the narrow footpath back towards the hotel.  The walk was very pleasant & when we reached the Castel Sant’ Angelo we stopped for a bite while looking at the trinket stalls set up along the shady riverbank (we liked the shade).  It was only a short walk back to the hotel, an ice cream on the way then an afternoon nap, my feet were complaining about the distance we had walked.  Ron is in second heaven with all the history & magnificient architecture & art we both love these walks as we see so many un expected things (un expected for us) We both had a long hot bath after our sleep ( my sweet Tereza washed our clothes while I slept) then we caught up with our blog before heading out to a sidewalk cafe close to the hotel for dinner.  The food was great, I had mussel & octopus hot pot while Tereza had ravioli stuffed with spinach & cheese.  Back to the hotel & looked through photos before lights out around midnight.