Gladiator - seeing the Colosseum up close and personal

 February 6, 2024

The night before we left home we happened upon the ending of the movie, Gladiator - the part that takes place in Rome and has Russell Crowe fighting as a gladiator in the Colosseum and, of course, I had to watch until we heard the line, “Honor Him, he is a soldier of Rome”.

How fitting as we were headed to Rome the next day. Of course so many of us have that image of the Colosseum and to see it in person, walk through it - pretty fantastic. We’ve been visiting so many iconic places in Rome and seeing so much history our heads are starting to explode - I’m hoping we are creating new brain cells as we take it all in.

The same guide we had yesterday, Laura, turned out to be our guide today. How wonderful - she already knew us and vice-versa. She is so engaging in explaining the history and putting it all in perspective. 

We had a driver take us to the Colosseum and our tickets permitted us to skip the line and head straight in - we have found that being with a tour guide and having those advanced tickets is the way to go. We were even able to use the elevator to get to the top of the colosseum (which made Ed happy). 

It was just surreal - seeing what’s left of it, how it was constructed, what it was used for after the time of Gladiators, how two different earthquakes destroyed part of it; seeing the underneath part of the arena where the slaves worked and the animals were kept; seeing one of the trap doors where the animals were released into the arena; seeing where the Caesar would enter the stadium and where he would sit; where the VIPs would sit; seeing the entrance that the Gladiators used and which way the winners or losers had to leave the arena. Absolutely amazing what the Romans accomplished with their building skills. 

As Laura had explained to us, the Romans enjoyed sitting and watching events - not participating. Where the Greeks were all about competing in activities and sports (they started the Olympics), the Romans wanted to be entertained. All citizens of Rome were welcome to attend the games. Tickets were free - food was provided. The government of Rome was all about keeping the citizens fed and entertained - kept them from rising up against the government.

From there we walked through the Roman Forum - the center of day to day life in Rome; where they held processions, elections criminal trials; a venue for public speeches. Today it contains ruins of architectural fragments with excavations still ongoing. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures here with my cell phone camera, only my SLR so I can’t put them here. I may try to add some when we return home.

After this tour the driver took us to the Pantheon (remember we had slept through our visit the day before). Laura had suggested that we could still do this and have time to make our afternoon museum visit as well. The drive to the Pantheon was fun as the taxi snaked his way through this ancient part of Rome. Only taxis and approved cars are allowed in this part of the city as the roads are narrow, cobblestones, and there are lots of people walking. It was an interesting ride but we were dropped off directly in front of the building. We paid cash for our tickets as we were told this would get us in quicker, and it did. Also, for whatever reason, one of the workers at this ticket entrance asked us if we would like a guided tour (no charge) - so we said yes. Glad we did as just going into these building is overwhelming - having someone give explanation brings it all into focus. 

This is the most preserved building in Rome because it has been used constantly from the beginning. It was never abandoned and the care of it was kept up. The only light comes form the top of the dome where there’s a 30 foot round opening, so yes, the rain and other elements will come through and into the building. Many famous Romans are buried there including Rafael (the painter), who asked to be entombed there; the first and second governors of Rome; and some of the Popes.

Afterwards we chose to eat at one of the restaurants right on this square - yes the price might be a bit higher but we were tired of standing and walking and needed to sit for a bit.

At 2:15 p.m. we grabbed a taxi to take us to the Borghese gallery as we had a tour set up for 3:00 p.m. and it would be way too far to walk. This gallery contains a large part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculptures, and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese - the nephew of Pope Paul V (1605-1621). This relationship was instrumental in Scipione Borghese’s ability to take ownership of this art -  sometimes by nefarious dealings. The word “nepotism” comes into play as well. 

Our tour used audio so we could hear the guide, and she was passionate about her artwork. I really felt I was in a level 4 college art appreciation class at times - and occasionally my eyes would start to glaze over - but it was incredibly interesting listening to her explain every part of a painting or piece of sculpture. Obviously we did not see everything in the gallery but we saw a lot! Works by Caravaggio (The Madonna and Child with St. Anne) - that was only allowed to be in St. Peter’s Basicilca for one day before the Pope rejected it; Canova (Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix); Raphael, Bernini (David), and a special exhibition featuring Rubens (as our guide said, you either love his art or hate his art). Below is the David statue:

Our tour was even extended as she walked us through the gardens around the museum. From there we walked towards the Via Veneto, a street famous for its high end shopping along with restaurants. We chose to stop and get a bite to eat at the Hard Rock. We were reminded just how loud it is in there, but the food was quick and we were able to be on our way back to the hotel via taxi!

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Rome as we leave for Civitivecchia to board our Viking Cruise ship for our upcoming cruise. We think tomorrow will be a more relaxing day for us.

10,658 steps (we took more taxi rides today)

Arrivederci,

Betsy

P.S. Ed is already asleep as I write this - I’ve been wearing him out.