20 July 2008

Roma- Santa Maria Maggiore and Colosseum

The next day was beautiful and sunny (not to mention humid and hot!). I was having flashbacks to my trip with Sarah in 2003, and was hoping it would not get THAT hot. From our hostel we had to catch a bus and ride about 10 minutes until we got to the closest metro stop, Cornelia. Then we hoped on the metro to Termini (the train station in the middle of Rome). Today was our day to see the Colosseum, but we had to make a quick stop to fulfill a tiny gap in my trip to Israel ;). We made our way to the beautiful basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Sarah and I had stayed at a hostel very nearby on our trip and visited it then. I had no idea what the significance was then and it was just another basilica in Italy. Santa Maria Maggiore is where the Romans took Jesus' manger from Bethlehem. It was awesome to get to see it, and I took the picture so my dad and Terri can see it too, and be there through me =).
After visiting the basilica we ate lunch at the cafe Sarah and I used to get our cappuccino and pastry at every morning.
Then we headed downhill for the Colosseum. It had to top the list of Murat's favorite places. He did not want to leave=). It is a pretty impressive place just for the history alone. These are my fav pics from the Colosseum:

These are from the little museum inside the Colosseum: a mosaic of the animal handlers, a relief of gladiators, and a bust of Caesar.
We also zoomed in on some of the guys dressed as gladiators. If they catch you they ask for money, so we made sure we were out of reach.
Murat and I decided it was time for a light lunch. We found a nice restaurant across the street from our next destination, the Roman Forum...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Honey,
I agree with Sarah... much better format and finally I can comment to you. Yippee. Always have and always will love your blogs because you are my angel baby. This is such a great way for me to see you even though we are too many miles apart. Wonderful photos, especially the ones with you and Murat! God Bless You. Mom