THE COLOSSEUM

On the same day as the Vatican (my review of the Vatican is on my blog already), we went to visit the Colosseum.  It wasn't too far away- we took the metro which took us right outside.  I don't think we brought tickets in advance, but the queue was not long and we were inside within 10 minutes of getting there. 

Even before entering, the Colosseum looked powerful.  It was partly covered by scaffolding as there was work being done to it, but that didn't stop it looking breathtaking. As we went inside we opted out of an audio guide as we had just been on a tour of the Vatican so felt it would be too much - but we didn't need one. We brought a book of the historical facts which helped us on our way round plus the information that was on the walls as we walked around was enough. 

The view of the Colosseum from the ticket line.

The writing that was on the walls, around the building.

View of the arches of the Colosseum from the outside.





The information provided explained the hierarchy of the people in the stands, who fought, why they fought, how they fought and what procedures took place before and after the fight. It was like travelling back in time to see it all. We headed downstairs to start there and we worked our way up until we were outside to where bystanders rich and poor would have been - of course they were on different levels.

The outside was magnificent, I don't know if this was because the sun was shining down on us and everything felt 10x better, but the view was lovely. I could imagine what it would have been like to be sat there to watch a fight between a prisoner and animal. We were at the top of the Colosseum on the fourth floor to begin with where we could walk around the the circle to experience different views. We then made our way down 2 levels below where we were close to the middle section where the fights would have taken place. We could see how much it had decayed over the years and how much history had taken place. 

View of the middle section plus where people would have sat.

You can see where the scaffolding parts were.

Me posing in front of an arch

Me near the middle of the Colosseum where the fights would have taken place.






We are all fortunate enough to go explore the Coloseeum and that is possible because it has been preserved all these years for everyone to go see, learn and gain more insight of what it would have been like for the prisoners, slaves and fighters to be there solely to fight and have thousands of people watch it happen.

PROS OF THE COLOSSEUM:

• Learning historical facts - very in depth and explained well.
• Being able to walk around the outside of the Colosseum.
• Wasn't too busy or crowded when walking around.

CONS OF THE COLOSSEUM:

• If you cannot walk a lot, you may find the stairs a struggle.
• The reasons for why the fighting happened are sad.

TIP: I don't think you really need a tour guide as the information you have is clear and detailed. You follow the information round and it is like a story building up.

A magnificent cross