Day 35 - Ancient Rome

Day 35 (Oct. 7th) - Today, we had a private tour guide show us ancient Rome.


Carla Zaia (recommended by Rick Steve's book) gave us a great 3 hour tour--even though it was overcast and rained occasionally.

Waiting for our tour guide at a cafe

We got up early and took a bus to the Palatine Hill site to purchase tickets, because there is always a long line at the Colosseum.  Fortunately, because of the weather, there was no ticket line.  This gave us an opportunity to have coffee and soft drinks across the street from where we met Carla.

San Clemente Church

We started with a tour of San Clemente Church, which was built about a thousand years ago on top of the original church built around 300 A.D., which itself was built on top of another Mythras temple from the 2nd century.  St. Cyril, who evangelized Russia and the Slavic nations, is also buried there.

Our tour guide, Carla, in front of the Colosseum

Inside the Colosseum

She kept the tour informative and interesting for us, especially when talking about what events at the Colosseum.  There is actually documentation indicating that Christians were killed at this Colosseum.  According to Carla, some scholars suggest the Jesuits created this "urban myth" during the Renaissance to discourage the looting of the building for construction materials.

Carla showing us the walls of the Colosseum

She then took us to the Roman Forum, the area which was the heart of political ancient Rome.  Finally, we ended up Campiodoglio or Capitol Hill area.

Ruins at the Roman Forum

Columns for the temple of Jupiter

Temple of Vespasian in the background

Renae and the girls at the Victor Emmanuel Monument with the dome of St. Peter's in the background

Victor Emmanuel Monument

After having a short lunch in the cafe for the Capitoline Museums, we took a short cut through the Santa Maria Aracoeli church, to the Victor Emmanuel Monument.  This modern monument was started in 1885, but was most famously used by Mussolini to give speeches in the 1920s and 1930s.  We were also there during the changing of the guard for the unknown soldier.