After a good breakfast in the Ibis Roma Aurelia we took the Metro into the city. It took us straight to The Colosseum - and it wasn’t any less busy than yesterday! We did find an extremely useful free water station right outside the Metro. It won’t be doing the dozens of iced water sellers any favours. Our first stop was the church of Basilica di Santa Francesca Romana, just on the Palatine Hill, which was gloriously decorated with amazing tromp d’oeil and beautiful marble marquetry flooring.
We then entered the Palatine Hill, with a electronic bag scan, and also walked through part of the Forum. This has been extensively excavated since we were here 25 years ago.
During this time we stopped whilst overlooking the stadium of Augustus to join the two minute silence at the end of the funeral service for Queen Elizabeth, a very sad moment.
Our alloted time to visit the Coliseum was 13:50 and we had to be there 20 minutes before so we arrived early only to be turned away with 7 minutes to go! Another bag scan and we were in, with 3000 others! (Apparently they only take that number at one time, hence the time allocation)
The Colosseum is amazing. We wandered round part of the lower outer section before going to the upper levels where we enjoyed the exhibits and then basked in the reality. The ambition and the engineering are simply breathtaking. Upwards of 40,000 people could be in the stadium at one time, all free access, but like now, the lower your class the higher up you went.
We enjoyed a drink at a small restaurant close to the Coliseum and then headed back to the hotel for a chill and dinner. We had a very nice meal at the hotel and I had the best pizza yet in Italy made by the grumpiest man I’ve come across! ( We have found the Italians to be unfailingly lovely to us - helpful and kind) Free drinks as we are Silver members with Ibis - the pour was very generous!
