Colossal Colosseum

Day 2 (5 May 2025)

Today was one of those days where my brain felt like it hit its quota of awe and couldn't process any more. We visited the Colosseum and it's hard to imagine this massive amphitheatre was built almost 2,000 years ago. It had 80,000 seats, larger than the current Rome Olympic stadium! It's the largest amphitheatre in the world today (in fact, it was named Colosseo meaning "giant"). The south side was damaged due to a great earthquake in 1349.

 

The Colosseum was completed by Emperor Titus to provide free entertainment for everyone, even slaves, to try and keep the populace happy and maintain peace in the land. It's hard to imagine but the lower three level seats for nobility, the rich and the well-to-do were made entirely from marble. Seats at the top two levels for the poor and slaves were wooden. 

 

There were gladiator fights (thought the Hollywood portrayal of gladiators fighting to their death was unlikely to be true as these gladiators took years to train and were considered valuable). Exotic animals like giraffes, crocodiles, rhinos, hippos, elephants, ostriches, bears, lions and tigers were brought in and elaborate sets were staged. Unfortunately this revolutionary idea had a dark side. Millions of people and animals were killed in the arena in the name of sport and early Christians were martyred here (sand was used as the surface so it could soak up blood).

 

The Colosseum was also built using the gold and silver items raided from the Holy Temple in Jerusalem when Titus conquered Judea (modern day Israel), razed it to the ground. This event showing the stealing of Jewish items was carved onto his victory arch.
 

After the tour, I had some time so I sat in front of the Colosseum and sketched it. My first real urban sketch and it was of the Colosseum no less! Felt so epic 😍 No pencil sketch first so some errors in proportion.

We also visited the Roman Forum, which is the ancient equivalent of the city centre. This housed the senate, temples, marketplace, arenas where people met. It's crazy to think that this vast area was all underground. Some of the original roads still exist.

 

In the past, emperors would just build on top of the existing city, which meant that cities were built upon cities. Rome is like lasagne - you peel off one layer, you'll find another. As our guide said, wherever you dig in Rome, you'll find something! If you see the photo below of a temple, the steps used to be completely buried. 

 

We went up Palatine Hill which was where the emperor lived. Amazing bird's eye view.
 

 

It was only our first real day in Rome and it felt like we'd seen so much. Near our hotel, within a 100m stretch, we saw at least three random churches filled with beautiful frescos and marble statues. I guess unfortunately since they're in Rome, they're considered "ordinary" 😅

 

 

 

 

We also walked by the Vittoriano, a monument to Victor Emmanuelle II who was the first king of modern unified Italy. The scale of the monument is crazy. Everything is OTT in Rome! 

We then walked to the gorgeous Trastevere neighbourhood for dinner.

 

 

We were a little early so we had drinks first (seated right by the road where cars and horses squeeze by alongside pedestrians!) 

 

Dinner was at the highly rated Cecilia Santa Cucina. We tried their carbonara, risotto and grilled artichokes. I have to say, I thought I knew Italian food since we eat a lot of pasta back home. But the flavours here are unfamiliar. In Italy, carbonara is made with egg yolks, not cream. And the risotto was made using lemon. 

What an eventful day! Actually, I didn't mention that we faced a hiccup today. We were waiting for our Colosseum tour at the wrong place and didn't know until 5 minutes before when someone came to tell us. The correct spot was quite a ways away and the thought flashed across my mind that it was inconceivable we would miss the very first tour we signed up for. Cue major panicking, a lot of running, bearing in mind that I haven't run in decades. At one point, it felt like my legs were spinning out of my control, it's a miracle I didn't collapse in a heap. "Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." - Psalm 37:24. Yeah, God was holding me up for sure.

Thankfully nowadays we are all contactable via WA and the guide called me, we made it to the meeting point somehow and continued the tour, albeit with jelly legs. 

All in all, it was a great day. and we had fantastic weather throughout, despite thunderstorms being forecast. Thank you God 💜