colosseum, roman forum and palatine hill

colosseum

roman forum & palatine hill

circus maximus

colosseum

The Colosseum, one of the seven man-made wonders of the world, needs no introduction.
Voyagers tips: Book tickets online to avoid the long queue. Regular tickets are easy to book, but the special tickets with underground and 3rd tier tickets (the special tour through coopculture website is only 9 euros more) are sold out months in advance. This is a hidden treasure, as I didn’t see many mentions of it in my research. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in my booking and missed this special tour. Most people interested in underground purchases expensive 3rd party tours for over 100 euros, whereas the official tours including entrance tickets only cost around 26 euros.

roman forum & palatine hill

Three arches were built here, only two remain, one on each end of Roman Forum.

There is a perfect shot of the Colosseum from Roman Forum.

Temple of Venus, built by Julius Caesar. Only this wall remains today.

The tomb of Julius Caesar, very unassuming.

Another shot of the grave of Julius Caesar.

The arch on the opposite end of the forum.

A nice monument on the way up to Palatine Hill.

You can look down on the entire Roman Forum from Palatine Hill.

Palatine Hill is much larger than we expected. This massive piece of land resides right in the heart of Rome.

On the other side of these fortress walls of Palatine Hill is Circus Maximus, the stadium for chariot races.

Looking down at Circus Maximus. We also looked up at Palatine Hill from Circus Maximus.

Roman Forum, located right next to the Colosseum, was the center of civil activities in ancient Rome. Palatine Hill, adjacent to the forum, is a massive hill with fantastic views of Rome. Sadly, most structures at both Roman Forum and Palatine Hill were destroyed.

Circus Maximus

Where the chariot races used to take place, now only an open field of gravels and grass. A bit underwhelming.

A perfect view of Palatine Hill fortress walls from here.

A giant leaps over the walls of Palatine Hill.

Another giant.

Circus Maximus, the stadium once used for chariot races, is located next to Palatine Hill.