Of course, the Colosseum and Roman Forum are must see visits on any trip to Rome. The Colosseum is a symbol of the ancient Romans, iconic of their wealth and engineering ingenuity. The Colosseum is also symbolic of immense cruelty, where spectacles, gladiatorial fights and executions occurred. It speaks a lot to our progress as human beings that the Colosseum is now used as a beacon for the worldwide anti- death penalty movement; whenever the death penalty is abolished somewhere in the world, or a sentence is commuted, the stadium is lit in gold.
For entering the Colosseum and Forum, you can get a Roma Pass. The good thing about the Roma Pass is that you get to skip the ticket line, since the lines in Italy are often divided into two-- one line to buy a ticket and one queue to enter.
Right outside the Colosseum subway stop you will be greeted by the structure.
You can take a walk around and see the different walls. The inner wall is mostly intact but the outer wall is only partially remaining.
Inside you can see various exhibits. Here are some bones and trinkets found during excavation of the area.
Various animals would often be killed during the Roman spectacles.
The various seating areas were split reserved for different classes of people, with the Plebeians and Women in the nosebleed seats.
Now the seating areas are mostly gone.
The stadium uses many arches.
A Magen David! Is it original graffiti?
The stadium used to have a wooden floor, covered with sand. Sand is arena in Latin. Does it sound familiar?
The hypogeum, or underground in Latin, was used for organizing the show above.
Tunnels and cages could access the Arena through trapdoors, permitting access for Gladiators, animals, etc.
After Rome fell, the Colosseum was used for many different things, such as apartments, building materials and a church.
They still have services there today.
You can walk around on two different floors inside.
Outside the Colosseum, up the road is the Roman Forum. It's a really massive area that was once the city centre of Rome. Here's a map with all of the sights.
Just west of the Colosseum you can walk up the hill and will directly see the Arch of Titus. It shows the sacking of Jerusalem, when the Romans destroyed the 2nd Temple.
The Forum is massive, with temples, homes, arches, and other monuments strewn throughout the area.
There's a stadium:
It is like a gigantic amazing park:
They have some beautiful pine trees:
I think they have to cut them to do this:
And olive trees:
Here are some black ones:
It's an amazing places, but it get's tiring:
Especially when you don't know about the monuments beforehand, so maybe it's good to get a guide or a guidebook:
My wife and I did it ourselves, and got a little sick of it by the end:
There's not a ton of markings, so we often didn't know what we were looking at.
Sauce Magnusson is an internationally renowned author, scientist, and musician with over 15 YouTube clicks for hit music videos such as Gay French Muslims, Sexy Time, Moishe Batmann, and Glutinous Rice. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 2012 and currently resides in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he leads the Israeli Strategic Hummus Reserve. Be the second to Follow Sauce on Facebook (after his mother- thanks Mom)!
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