One of the great advantages of our location is that we are very close to the site of ancient Rome here. We were able to walk to our tour meeting area in about fifteen minutes and had time to get some pastries, coffees and water from the Oppio Cafe before crossing the street and meeting the coordinators for the Walks of Italy tour.

Our tour guide, Ahmed, did a great job of keeping us engaged for the next few hours with stories of ancient Rome, a book of illustrations based on the periods we were looking at, and a deft navigation through the hoards of other tourists around us. He has been doing this tour for over seven years.

The Colosseum is a short walk from the meeting place and we were able to quickly pass lines and guards, get through security, and find the gladiators entrance. This is both a novel and somewhat unnerving experience to enter the Colosseum this way as it really would have been the same perspective as the gladiators would have had on their way into the arena.

Again, pictures and video can’t do justice to the experience of being inside the Colosseum and imagining a the course of a day in a space of a 50,000 seat stadium, watching animal vs. animal, human vs. animal, and human vs. human contests to the death all day long. Animals were constantly brought in from exotic locations and gambling was fierce. No entrance fees.

Ahmed gave us great context, too, for the architecture that made the Colosseum possible (in just 8 years), the earthquakes and “recycling” projects that have decimated a huge amoung of the structure, and current restoration projects.

After a great walk through two levels of the seating including the Emporer’s viewing area, we left the Colosseum to visit the Palatine Hill and the Forum. On our way we stopped to see and learn about the Arch of Constantine, and then we took a break at the Palatine Stadium.

As we moved on we learned more about the Emporer’s palace that stood in this area, likely the largest structure in the world at the time, and the vast gardens that came at different times in the Roman period. The gardens lead out to a terrace with a magnificent view of the Forum and the ruins of many ancient Roman buildings. Excavation and restoration in this area has been going on for over a hundred years, and our guide was great about giving a sense of how the space may have been used.

The tour ended with a set of recommendations for good local eateries, tourist traps to avoid, and a round of questions that Ahmed was happy to answer. We had a great tour and would recommend the company.

Then, following Ahmed’s advice, we set out to find the Taverna Romana, which coincidentally was also recommended by our in-laws. Here we enjoyed some wonderful pasta dishes and some wine for a mid-afternoon meal. We wandered back to our hostel from here and relaxed a short while and planned a walk through some parts of the city we hadn’t seen yet.

The roads were starting to get busier in the later afternoon which made the contests of crossing the road interesting and navigating narrow streets more challenging. Still, it didn’t take us much more than about 20 minutes to find the Trevi Fountain and to admire the scope and beauty of it – many other people were doing the same, and while there was no drunken frolicking in the fountain itself, many folks were clearly appreciating the good life.

We carried on to the Pantheon, which is free to access, and did a circuit through the main chappel, admiring the Renaissance artworks that adorned the walls of this ancient Roman building and finding the final resting spot of Raphael. Apparently Correlli is here, too, but I discovered that later.

Finally, we found ourselves at the vast Piazza Navona where the Fountain of the Four Rivers (Fiumi Fountain) takes pride of place in the large public square. It was designed by Bernini for Pope Innocent X in 1651 to face the Pope’s “family palace” and the Church of St. Agnes in Agone.

We rested awhile here, and then started our return trip as twilight began to change the night sky. As we approached our neighbourhood we reached back for another of Ahmed’s recommendations and found Alle Carrette, a pizzaria near our hostel, where the thin crust pizzas again exceeded expectations.

We rounded out the day with some more gelato from Don Nino’s and I had a Peroni at the Piazza Della Madonna Dei Monti where we sat and relaxed.

Then it was back to our hostel to clean up and to plan for our last day in Rome, and of our vacation!