We visited Rome, Italy and the Roman Forum in November 2014 on our way between London and Tunis, Tunisia. It was a neat place to see in-the-flesh, but there were so many other tourists there it was hard to enjoy it. Lesser-known tourist attractions are often more fun than the most famous ones for this reason.
The Roman Forum was a place where the people of the city would gather and have government “discussions” (today we call them “protests”). Right before a big event at the Colosseum, the gladiators would march through this area on their way to the Colosseum.
By the time we got to the bottom, the gates were closed….we’d have to go back yet another day to see the inside of the Roman Forum.
On the day we visited the Colosseum, I took this photo of the Arch of Constantine. Constantine was the first Christian Roman emperor. The arch is situated between the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.
As we stood at this overlook, we wondered how the people down there got inside. We didn’t have a map and we weren’t sure where the entrance to the Roman Forum was located.
We happened to find the Roman Forum, but we approached it from a completely different direction.
This was the second time that we’d seen the Roman Forum. This view was from above the forum. We stood for a while and just looked at it from this relatively private place. It was fun to imagine the ancient Romans going about their daily business in this old, ruined city.
This is the Tiber River in Rome. We had to cross the bridge over the river to get to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum.
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And the meek shall inherit your spare change. — By Jennifer Shipp
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