Rome; Wednesday, 21 February, 2007

Having finished a decidedly sweet, and not particularly filling breakfast, I headed out from the hotel and back to the Colosseum to see it in daylight.

All the guide books warn of the massive delays and long waits to get into the Colosseum, this however, does not apply if you have a RomaPass which allows you to bypass the whole queue and go straight in (and the speed the queue was moving at, it saved me over 40 minutes!) The Colosseum has, over the last two millennium, been used for its original purpose, and then from the middle ages onwards as a store and source of construction materials. It really is surprising, given that, how much of the structure still remains. You can climb (or like me be lasy and take the lift) up to one of the higher terraces to get a good view across the whole arena.

From the Colosseum I crossed the road and wandered into the back end of the remains of the Forum. The best preserved, and most interesting part, is spread over the Palatine hill and includes the remains of palaces built by Augustus as well as stunning views over the Forum and central Rome. I spent several hours wandering through the palatine, before realising that breakfast had really not been enough. So I found a small snack bar and had a pizza before wandering down the road to the Circus Maximus.

The circus was, in its day, the worlds largest sporting complex. It's here that Ben Hur style chariot races would take place, sadly, unlike the Colosseum, almost nothing of the Circus, other than the raised central section, the embankments that would have formed the base of the seating and a few stones are all that remain.

I caught the metro back from the Circus to Termini and caught one of the many open-top tours that go around Rome. This one (discounted with the RomaPass) starts at Termini before heading off past the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, the Vatican and many other of the major sights of the city.

I got off the bus a little before it got back to Termini and had a wander through some back streets to reach the Trevi Fountain, another of Rome's most famous landmarks. I would have thrown my coins in, but as the mass of people standing around, chucking coins and taking photos was four or five deep I decided not to try. Instead I wandered a little further on to the Pantheon, a spectacular, and massive, domed church in the middle of all the narrow small lanes. From the Pantheon I wandered on past the Area Sacra Argentina. These are the remains of several temples which are strictly off limits to humans, but have become home to many feral cats.

From Argentina I wandered on a little further until I found myself at the front of the Forum. I was going to do a bit more exploring, but it was just gone 5, and they were in the process of locking the area up for the night! Instead I wandered on along the road that runs past the Forum back to the Colosseum and had an earlish dinner in a little pizzeria opposite, watching the sun go down and the flood lights go up.

After a brief stop back at the hotel to drop stuff off, and to make a comfort stop, I headed back to Termini to catch the last sightseeing bus of the day. Rome by night is as impressive, as it is during the day and, despite the now heavy rain, the evening re-tour was worth it (I was sitting at the very front in one of the only two rows with a roof, I don't know if the passengers further back thought it was so worth it!) not only for all the sights at night, but also, as it was still the end of the rush hour, an excellent, but safe place, to watch the war that is Italian Driving taking place all around you!