We walked down to the area where the Coluseum and all those old Roman things were. The Coluseum was fairly similar to how I remembered it although we approached from a different direction this time, so the first glimpse was different than when we were there last. The building was huge, undeniably impressive to anyone who saw it. It gave a nice contrast to the modern aspects of Roma around it.
Leaving the hostel early was a grand idea. The line wasn´t too long when we got there but it was clear that crowds were already starting to build up. We didn't wait too long to get to the ticket counter, and when we did, we discovered there was no student prices but there was half price for EU members (very weird indeed). We had no idea about the EU thing and didn't bring our passports, so we had no way to prove that we are British citizens. After some creative talking to the lady at the desk, who was very nice about it all, we were able to get the discounted tickets, and Emma and I each saved 4.50 euros! Unfortunately, Kate had to pay the full fare.
The inside was much like I had remembered it, in terms of the structure itself (well, of course, it´s not going to change!) but I had much more of an appreciation for it this time, I think. The sky was partially clouded over and so the mix of blue and white on top of the walls gave a beautiful background for photos. I also took some artsy shots of the clouds and silhouettes of the building.
Kate got herself an audio guide thing and was listening to a lot of the history and info of the place. We´d been before and were also travelling a bit cheaper than Kate, so we skipped it and just went for the photo-taking experience. Kate did let us listen to an interesting bit about the games that the Romans had held there, including stories of the construction of a huge mock whale from which lots of bears emerged.
I felt particularly like taking arty photos and so I used black & white and sepia quite a bit. Got some nice shots out of it, too ;)
From there we moved on to the Palatine Hill where there used to be palaces and the dwellings of the Roman nobility. Walking along to the entrance was beautiful, even before we got into the place. It was completely green, lined with fantastically impressive trees like a great boulevard. I wondered if they had that back 2000 years ago.
When we got inside the Palantine Hill entrance we set off up the path. It was all very beautiful, very green. The remains of the buildings were all brown, ruined and stripped of all the marble or granite, and other niceties, that they once might have had. I thought it must have looked so completely impressive when they were intact, and tried to picture the place in ancient Roman times, full of white, green and blue.
The Hippodrome of Domitian was there too, very well intact (well, compared to, say, Circus Maximus).
From the hill you could look over Circus Maximus.
The third stop on this travel back in time was the Roman forum, full of the remains of statues, monuments and buildings. We saw the three arches; Titus, with its depictions of the victory over Jerusalem; Constantine, standing nearby the Coluseum; and, Secundus Severus, down the end of the forum, and the only one we could walk through.
We also saw columns, the remains of various temples and monuments. I was thinking about what this place must have been like, with a variety of things just crammed into the one small strip of space. It must have looked rather cluttered, but, in the old white finish it was probably spectacular.
The arch of Constantine:
The arch of Titus:
The arch of Secundus Severus:
It was hot and we were hungry so we moved on then to see the Jewish ghetto and to get some good Jewish food.
It wasn´t too far away and a lot of the walk was in the shade. We got there and went into the main synagogue. They had security getting in because there was some sort of terror attack a few years ago, and it was the first time that Malfi got questions when they looked in Emma´s bag.
We bought tickets to a walking tour through the synagogue. The guide explained that during the actual ghetto days the Jews weren´t allowed to have more than one synagogue building (for like 5000 people!) so they built a huge place and put six different synagogues inside. Clever, we are! I can´t remember if she said this building was that same one. I think it may have been demolished and this built over it on four blocks. But, they had saved a lot of the old bits like the Aron Kodesh (where the Torah scrolls are kept).
The main room in the synagogue was absolutely incredible. It was brilliantly ornate, colourful and full of a life of its own. It was built by the Roman Jewish community after the end of the ghetto, financed fully by them and built to be a grand symbol of Jewish brilliance. I think it did its job splendidly.
The museum below had some amazing Torah covers. They said that since one of the two jobs Jews were allowed was to trade in old clothes, they used the materials to make these. There are apparently 800 Torah covers in that synagogue alone!
We were quite hungry and so we skipped the last little bit of the museum, to go search for food. We wanted some good old kosher Jewish Italian cuisine. Lots of the places (tourist places, really) were very expensive, and so we found a little place where it looked like locals ate. We had shwarma and some traditional style artichokes. Very good.
From there we headed to find a café for coffee and cake, as we do ;) We found a nice little piazza and a little place that looked like it had been there for ages. The guys at the bar were old and experienced, it seemed, and I felt like they probably maintained old café traditions that would otherwise have been lost in time. We got our usual drinks and we also got a selection of little cakes. Wow, so damn delicious. The chocolate and the pistachio ones were my favourites.
We headed back to the hostel for a bit of a rest. We were sitting in the lobby, reading and blogging, and the staff brought out a tub of sangria they had made up. Awesome. More people came and we all drank and chatted. There were a bunch of Newcastle guys, their accent undecipherable.
After a while the Pop Inn guy brought a tray with tequila shots! Now, this is what I call good hostel atmosphere and great staff. We popped out quickly to get some take-away pizza and bring it back. It was a great fun night. The only sucky thing was a guy from Cronulla (damn shire boys) who was loud, racist, sexist and homophobic. How it was possible that he had some decent music on his Ipod was beyond me.
When it got a bit late they started closing down the lobby and we tried to take it to one of our rooms. Then, the staff got a bit Nazi and were trying to enforce people to go to their own rooms...at 12 or so. Instead, we took ourselves outside to the street and kept going. We stayed a short while and chatted. Our stay there included a visit from a guy completely drunk, stoned, high, or messed up, or a combination, who wanted cigarettes but wouldn't leave us alone even after one of the guys gave him. We called it a night soon after that.
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