Yesterday, Friday, we spent the day being tourists. Proper tourists in an open-roof tour bus, with earphones connected to the English language tour commentary. There weren’t many fellow tourists, probably because it was raining and all the seats were wet, but it was our best chance of getting to the Catacombs, AND we got to travel on the Appian Way. I still can’t quite believe that we drove on a road on which construction began in 312BC!
Our friend Sally suggested that we visit the Catacombs a few days ago, and I’m very grateful that she did (grazie, Sal!). We might not have made the journey out to see them otherwise, but it was great to see a bit of the countryside just outside Rome, and yes I do mean ‘countryside’ – we saw several flocks of sheep, large vegetable gardens and houses on very big blocks of land.
We caught the ArcheoBus from the Piazza della Repubblica near Termini and drove through Ancient Rome past places we had visited – Piazza Venezia, the Colosseum, Palatino, Circus Maximus … and then some we hadn’t – Terme di Caracalla (Baths of Caracalla), Porta di San Sebastian (the Gate of San Sebastian in the City Wall of Imperial Rome) and the Via Appia Antica (the Appian Way).
The Catacombs run guided tours in several languages. We only had to wait 20 minutes or so for an English language tour. There were around 26 of us, including a group of 20 people who were all dressed very conservatively in dark blue and black. The 2 women wore long skirts to their ankles and had their hair up in buns. Many of the men had Abraham Lincoln-type beards. They were from the US, Canada, Mexico and several European countries. I think they were Mennonites.
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I’m pleased you thought the catecombs a worthwhile visit . It certainly leaves a lasting impression .
It seems like you are seeing some great places ancient history is great thing Hadrian also build a wall to keep the Scot’s out of England during time the Romans occupations sad news is our old friend Geoffrey died in his sleep last night 97
Very sorry to read about Geoff – condolences to his family and to you both xxx
running late did you get the hop on hop off bus to san sebastion with open top
Yep we did, Ron. It rained that day so the seats were wet and there weren’t many people doing the trip. It suited us well, though