Rome - Day I

When I left the Metro station "Colosseo" in the first afternoon in Rome, I was overwhelmed with so many impressions. After my experience in Paris, I  hadn`t expected to find the Colosseum right in front of me, just across the street. Then there were a lot of tourists, taking pictures, speaking in many different languages. And there`s the Italian traffic, of course.







 It was Thursday early evening, about 20 degrees Celsius and the best weather for photographing - blue sky, some clouds to make it more interesting.

After crossing the street and surviving it, we went inside with our Roma Pass.
I must say, that the Colosseum was not as impressive as the amphitheatre of El Djem in Tunisia. But still, so many old stones! It was fascinating!

 
 Every second step I saw another interesting perspective of the amphitheatre or a nice view on the city. Then there were information boards everywhere and they were really helpful and, well, informative. That´s why it took a lot of time to see everything.

 I love these old stone walls. It feels like you can breathe history. If it weren`t for all the tourists with their selfie - sticks, some of them strangely dressed, standing in my way, it could have felt like a trip back in time.

 And it`s so quiet inside the Colosseo. That was really surprising, in the middle of such a big city.

The window openings were always something to look forward to, because every one of them showed a different view.
I love those trees that you can see in the photo on the left. They always give me the feeling of being on a holiday, maybe because they remind me of my childhood.

In the picture above you can see the view of the Forum Romanum from one of those window openings. The picture below shows the Arch of Constantine and the Palatine Hill in the background.

 Walking along those passages, I tried to imagine over 50000 people, coming to the amphithetre for their amusement. Everything about this place and this time seems to be fascinating and terrible at the same time. Like the purpose this place was built for.

Since I decided to take less photos and plan each one more carefully, the results have improved. At least that`s my opinion. And the second benefit of that is, that I saw the place "with my own eyes" instead oft only through the viewfinder of my camera.


Outside again, we walked around for a bit. The old roads really need getting used to. But they look cool of course. More stones ;-)

 

Details on the Arch of Constantine.

The walk alongside the Forum Romanum gave me plenty of opportunities to watch the sun sink behind the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. It looks a bit like it`s not fitting in with the old buildings, but it`s nevertheless quite impressive.

The Via dei Fori Imperiali was almost too much for me. Antique ruins on both sides - I never knew where to look first.

 Between all the lifeless stone, the red dots of the poppy look very nice. And there was jasmin everywhere.

After the first impression of the Piazza Venezia we decided to go and find something to eat in the quarter across the road. It was quite late after all.

  Here you can see the Trajan's Column near the Piazza Venezia. All the details are really fascinating.

  All those nice little streets in Italy! I think at this point I finally realised that I was really there, in Rome, testing my few scraps of Italian language, eating the best pizza in my life.

On the way back to the Metro there was some kind of light show going on. I would have preferred to see the Colosseum at night without all this stuff, but better than no photo...

Share on Tumblr