When in Rome

The flight from London to Rome is about 2.5 hours.

That makes it pretty easy to have breakfast in London and lunch in Rome.

Well, for those that like to sleep in, it might be a bit of a stretch, but it certainly is do-able.

There is so much to see and do in Rome, so in the interest of brevity, I'll stick to two of my highlights.

The Pantheon 

I have to say, the Pantheon was my favourite place in Rome. That is because it was the biggest surprise for me.

The Pantheon was completed in 118 AD! That is a L-O-N-G time ago.

But the most amazing thing, that made it my favourite place, is that it is still in such good condition and truly is beautiful inside.





It was built as a Roman temple dedicated to the pagan gods of Rome.

The building looks square from the outside, but inside it is round.

The height and diameter of the dome are the same size.

The Pantheon is built as a series of intersecting arches. The configuration of the arches sustains the weight of the heavy building materials.

The lower part of the building is made of the heavier materials, being travertine and marble. The top of the dome is made of the lightest materials - pumice.

At the centre of the dome is an oculus (hole.) It is the main source of light to the building. Rain falls into the room, but the floor is slightly convex and runs the water into Roman drains below the building.




It has remained in such good shape and did not become a quarry for other newer buildings over the centuries (as other original Roman buildings became) because the Byzantine Emperor Phocas gave it to Pope Bonafice IV in 608 AD.

It has been used as a church ever since.




The condition of the building is what amazed me the most.

It gave true insight into how beautiful the buildings were back in the day, and how advanced the Romans were 2 thousand years ago.


The Coliseum - behind the scenes

No trip to Rome would be complete without going to the Coliseum.

The architectural design of the ancient building is very impressive.

Its function, as the forum for animal and gladiator fights, to the death, is.... ummmmm.... what shall I say.... ummmmmm.... let's just say... "mind boggling".








The Coliseum was completed in AD 80. The walls and floors were polished marble and the ceilings were painted stucco.

It seated 86,000 people and had 82 entrances.

Centuries later the design is still the prototype for modern day sports stadiums.










It was a beautiful building "back in the day".










But it was built to host violent gladiator games. Hundreds of thousands of slaves, criminals, war prisoners, and animals fought for their lives in the stadium. Most fights ended in one, or both, participant's death.

The gladiator games served as public punishment to criminals and prisoners and acted as a motivator for people to follow the rules of society.

It also served as gruesome entertainment for a blood thirsty crowd. That boggles my mind.

The higher your status in Roman society, the lower your seats. This was where blood and guts would have splattered spectators.

The top sections were fenced off for women and the poor.


The engineer in John was pretty fascinated with the architectural and engineering feats of Roman ingenuity.

Over the centuries the Coliseum has been ransacked and its marble walls and floors have been used as a quarry site to build other buildings.

Between looting, fires and earthquakes the building is currently only 2/3 its original size.





We had a tour that had some added extras - we got to go down under the stage into the basement, and, then we went up on the top rows for a birds eye view.

I'll start with the "underbelly" of the gladiator "shows".

Here we saw another perspective that I had never thought about.

While the spectators "enjoyed" the bloodthirsty action from above, there was a lot of work going on underneath the stage.

I can not imagine how awful it would have been waiting underground for your turn to be the entertainment, with your death being imminent - either as a caged animal, or, as a caged slave (slaves were non Roman), or, caged prisoner (a Roman), or, a prisoner of war.









The sounds would have been horrendous and the stench would have been disgusting.

Don't forget there would have been the minions operating the elevators and trap doors manually. These shows didn't benefit from the mechanization of today's Vegas shows.

And there would not have been Health And Safety inspectors watching.

Also, there would have been the Roman guards down there subjected to the same putrid environment.










Next time you think you've had a rough day, think of those poor souls fueling the entertainment of the Roman specators.






Enough about the bowels of the Coliseum.

From the "cheap seats in the balcony we were afforded fantastic views.

Now only small fragments of the city of Rome during the Roman Empire exist, but the size and complexity of it is mind boggling.

There are so many  other things to see and do in Rome that I could do an entire blog on it, but, luckily for you, I will just stick to my two favourites - the Colosseum underbelly, and, my most favourite, the Pantheon.

Oh yah, and we did get some gelato..... and tasted lemoncello..... and drank some wine.....