Rome, Day 2: Colosseum

Finally, we arrived at Colosseum by foot. Google map says it is 17 minute walk from our hotel. Overall, it's a pleasant walk because we saw a lot of interesting architecture on our way here. 

Colosseum is probably on everyone's itinerary. There is always a long line at the entry. Making an online reservation is highly recommended if you don't want to spend more than one hour waiting in line to buy the ticket. I didn't make a reservation for Colosseum online because it was somewhat risky to make the schedule so inflexible. The thought of it might rain or the plane might delay was on my mind. But I followed a good tip - if you go to Roman Forum to buy the ticket for Colosseum, the line is very short. And that was exactly what I did. The ticket for colosseum includes Roman Forum and Palatine. Whether you want to check out Roman Forum and Palatine or not, it doesn't matter. It's a combo ticket. There are no separate tickets.

It only took me 5 minutes to get the tickets at Roman Forum. The line for security check at Colosseum seemed long but moved quickly, about 15 minute wait. And this was in late September.

The stairs in colosseum were quite steep. Each stair looked like 2 feet tall to me. They are not kidding when they say "wear walking shoes". 

Colosseum is an oval amphitheater. It is made from concrete and stone. Under Emperor Vespasian in 72AD, the construction began. The structure was used for gladiator battles and could hold 50,000 to 80,000 people, who were seated according to rank. 

Colosseum has three tiers. Each tier features a different type of columns and they are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian tiers. The exterior arches of Colosseum are framed by these columns. The picture above is a Corinthian.

The arena was composed of a wooden floor covered by sand. Now you can see a bit of the wooden floor. 

The rebuilt floor doesn't cover the entire underground area called hypogeum, but you get the idea what it used to look like. The hypogeum, literally meaning "underground", was where animals and gladiators were held before the battles.

I don't know if you can picture Roman Empire or Russell Crow's "Gladiator" when you see the actually colosseum. But I can assure you there is nothing like Colosseum. And you kind of have to see it if it's your first time in Rome or you want to have a glimpse of Roman Empire.

At the viewpoint outside the gift shop, you can find Temple of Venus and Roma right in front of you. It is reckoned to have been the largest temple in Ancient Rome.

On the left, you can also see the north side of Arch of Constantine, which was built in 315AD. It is said that the arch denotes the breakdown of the classical Greek principle of forms during the late Roman period and shows the Eastern influence.

A tour to see the underground and the top level is available when the weather permits. We chose not to join the tour because we had to go to Roman Forum and Palatine after visiting Colosseum.