Schwooch Adventures: Roman forum

After we went to the Sistine chapel and finished the Vatican museums we went over to the older part of the city and looked at the ancient ruins. On the way we had gelato, it was a place I remembered being delicious with my mom in an island in the middle of the Tiber. While eating our ice cream we continued our trek to the forum and passed the circus Maximus, Temple of Portunas, temple of Hercules, and Santa Maria in Cosmedian (which is known for the Mouth of truth). Afterwards we bought tickets which let us get into palatine hill, the roman forum, and the colosseum. We saved entrance to the colosseum for tomorrow. Quick fun fact- when Rome was founded it was originally a swampland that was flooded by the Tiber constantly consisting of 7 unflooded hills. Those hills was what the Romans started building their cities on until they expanded too much and had to dam up the river to drain the marsh. Two of those major hills were Capitoiline (capital hill), palatine hill (the roman suburb) and the forum which stretched between in the marsh area. First we visited palatine hill. Justin was surprised at how much was left and how well it was built. It was huge, very grand and perfectly made. It's a shame that most of it was disturbed and we were not able to see it in all of its glory. The city is full of secrets still, the subways in Rome are limited because everytime they try to expand it turns into an acheological dig.

Justin being a really good tour guide and explaining what all the ruins were so I was able to appreciate them fully. (Temple of Portunas in the background)

Just the sheer size is crazy and most of the building is still underground.

View of the colosseum from palantine hill which we will see tomorrow.

After finishing palatine hill we contined on to the roman forum. There are many marble columns left mainly becaue they are all made from a single piece of marble!! The most impressive building was the Basilica of Masenetius and Constantine. It was huge!

The bascilica was being supported a bit....

It's nave is 4,000 square feet an only the north wall was still standing so you only see a third of the building. Fun fact the wrestling events were held here in the 1960 summer Olympics.