Around the World: Part Twenty One

In which I visited the city which was not built in a day

17.05.2019: Tour Day 11, Country 9, City 5

We drove towards the city of Rome, capital of Italy. At 3pm, the bus dropped us in the vicinity of the Roman monuments. The first destination of the walking tour was the Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre.

Roman Colosseum

An Amphitheatre is an open-air venue for entertainment or sports. The outer walls have three levels of arches, framed by decorative columns topped by capitals of the Ionic (at the bottom), Doric and Corinthian (at the top) orders. They were originally covered in travertine and marble statues filled the niches on the 2nd and 3rd storeys. The upper level, punctuated with windows and slender Corinthian pilasters, had supports for the 240 masts that held the awning over the arena, shielding the spectators from sun and rain. The 80 entrance arches, known as vomitoria, allowed the spectators to enter and be seated in a matter of minutes. The Colosseum's interior was divided into three parts: the arena, cavea and podium. The arena had a wooden floor covered in sand to prevent the combatants from slipping and to soak up spilt blood. Trapdoors led down to underground chambers and passageways beneath the arena floor – the hypogeum. Animals in cages and sets for the various battles were hoisted up to the arena by 80 winch-operated lifts. The cavea, for spectator seating, was divided into three tiers: magistrates and senior officials sat in the lowest tier, wealthy citizens in the middle and the plebs in the highest tier. The podium, a broad terrace in front of the tiers of seats, was reserved for emperors, senators and VIPs.

Forum Romanum (Roman Forum)

It is a jumble of marble fragments, triumphal arches, temple ruins, and sundry other ancient architectural elements from various time periods.

Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain)

It is a fountain in the Trevi district, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini and several others. Standing 26.3 meters (86 ft) high and 49.15 meters (161.3 ft) wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. The fountain at the junction of three roads (tre vie) marks the terminal point of the "modern" Aqua Vergine, the revived Aqua Virgo, one of the aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome. There is a saying that: if you throw a coin using your right hand over the left shoulder with your back at the fountain, you will visit Rome again.

Having done with the walking and the last sightseeing of the day, we relished an ice cream in a shop near the Fountain. Now we headed towards the Leonardo da Vinci – Fiumicino Airport, Italy. On the way, Akhilesh gave a walkthrough of the whole tour from the day we booked it till we reached the Airport Departures. We pulled out our luggage and the bus departed.

Read next: Around the World: Part Twenty Two