Ancient Rome

Posted on 11.22.08

“In my dreams I’ve played snooker with Stephen Hendry, sang with barbara Streisand and been to bed with annika rice. In reality I’ve played played snooker with barbara Streisand, sang with annika rice and been to bed with Stephen Hendry… Sometimes life is even better than a dream!”

- Fry & Laurie vox pop

And so it is with our days out. Ian really should have presided over *ancient* Rome, emily *sacred* and me – mixed up! Kind of missed a trick there.

But anyway, I landed Ancient Rome and what a joy to do it. We took the metro from Spagna, changing at Termini to Collosseo. Stepping out of the station is akin to Westminster tube when you virtually walk into big ben. Similarly, to be immediatley under the shadow of the imposing 2000 year old monument was both a surprise and a rush. “So where’s the Collosseum?” we joked.

Tours much cheaper today – €12 entry and €10 tour for the Collosseum, the Palatine and Roman forums.

The former took my breath away, astounding in its age and size. The tour guide described a vivid picture, the baying crowds, the packed seats, the animal dung, the excitement.

At these times my imagination is won over; the single thing I desire in all the world is to be back in history, experiencing it first hand.

We were taken to the highest level, with views out across the city, and also down to the emperor’s box where he would adjudicate on someone’s life with the turn of a thumb (think Gladiator) sending the crowd delirious.

A younger tour guide, Dave from New Zealand, took over, leading us up Rome’s seventh and most sacred hill – where it all began basically – to see the remains of the palatine, an ancient palace that was plundered to build most of the rest of the city. Stunning views across the city from up here, the dome of St Peter’s dominating the skyline. And a series of facts, engagingly told by our dynamo of a tour guide!

All over by 1, but what next? I was now pretty game for Ostia Antica — as recommended by Chris — but the others were lukewarm. Technically I’m the Papa today, but in my role as guide I feel it’s only my place to do that – guide – not dictate.

However I threw my weight around, threatened sulks and so on and got my way. It was so easy from Collisseo. We just took the metro down to Piramide, jumped off and onto an overground train 5 stops down. And what did this trip cost us? €1! Finally something in Rome that’s good value!! Stunning in fact.

We arrived in Ostia, which is run down in a way that is quite seperate from the ancient ruins it hosts. The station area is desolate and the weather was the greyest and wettest yet – felt like home.

€6.50 later and the first steps into the excavation didn’t look promising. Abusive notes to Chris were being drafted.

It’s all interesting enough — a ruined town, evacuated both when the river (the source of all its commerce) began to silt and because of a malaria epidemic, but left remarkably preserved — but not markedly different from the ruins we’d just seen, and hard to justify the trek out of town or the entrance fee. Then just as Emily instructed us to Turn Left, we spotted a ruined amphitheater together with a bunch of more interesting buildings. Suddenly it became the best idea of the trip.

I think the appeal of this place was the absence of shepherding or restrictions and the freedom to wander in and out of all exhibits. And so it was with the theatre. We ran up and down the steps and mock-performed on the stage (video of Tim singing Puccini to follow).

I wish I could post pics from here but they’ll have to be added later.

In the evening we went to ‘Gusto which was the best food we’ve had yet. I’m bored of writing now so will publish and write more later.

Categories: Rome

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