Coliseum, Roman Forum and the Palatino
I don’t really care how accurate this might be, but at the moment I see Rome as two distinct cities.
You have the old Rome with all the beatiful ruins and monuments, beatiful plazas, beautiful fountains, and you have the very common Rome that shows you that in a way it is just another european capital.
I don’t mean to badmouth Rome, I’m loving it here, but the parts I’m loving were built by anyone that is alive. You have a lot to see but from one thing to the next one, the will not take yout breath away in the same way a city like Amsterdam will.
That being said the monuments and ruins make up for it, so lets talk about them.

The coliseum
Yes, that is a lot of people in the photo. The coliseum is a very crowded attraction but it is very well worth it. It is one of the oldest buildings you will see that as been kept in an amazingly good shape. And I mean this trough time, the coliseum as seen a lot of work done to keep in good shape because of all the changes in use it had trough time.
And the story of it goes much further than the gladiators (you know, Spartacus and all that), it was used as a place for living, for trade, it saw battles between some of Romes most important families. If you like to be surprised by history it’s a good place to go.
Also I really like architecture and this is one of those building that will leave you eyes wide open, by its massive scale when compared to the age it was built in. It was a massive undertaking that ended up being worth countless hours of studies trough the years, be it from architects or artist looking to capture it.

The roman forum
Behind the coliseum stands the ruins of the Roman forum, the center trade and meeting point of old Rome.
You’ll need to use your imagination to give shape to all the buildings described where the ruins are (a lot of imagination) but you get a very good sense of the place. You see the places of worship and the places for recreation, and you can imagine how the people would gather there thousands of years ago (they had no internet so sociallizing was still done the right way).
The place is huge, so you better be ready to take the heat. Just 3 days ago the pharmacies thermometers marked over 40 °C in the sun, so bring your water bottle and use the many drinkable water fountains to stay hydrated (these water fountains are found all over Rome so make use of them just like the locals).

One of the many views you get while getting to the Palatino
Over the Roman forum stands the amazing Palatino, and let me tell you, the view that you get from there is breathtaking. Even just the small garden like spots that you find walking trough it and that the tourists end up using to rest are enough to make you wish it was an open space with no tickets. Other than the heat, it’s an amazing place to spend a good afternoon.
There as been much to see and i’ll take some time to write it all. In the meantime feel free to support the blog by sharing ☺
