Day 21: Rome: Pantheon, Colosseum, Forum

Our last day in Rome, and we were looking forward to seeing the Colosseum.

Map of Colosseum and the Forum

We started off at the Pantheon (5-7 minutes walking from our apartment near the Trevi fountain - now that we knew the roads :)). We wanted to see the inside before the day got by, as we were going to the Colosseum and Forum and weren't sure if we would be back before 6pm when the Pantheon closes.

Dome of the Pantheon

The dome of the Pantheon, the largest unreinforced dome is not even visible from the front or sides of the Pantheon! It has an opening at the top which illuminates the interiors naturally. It was originally a temple for the Greek gods, and then the Romans came and changed it over to their gods.
Currently, there is an altar for Jesus Christ in there. You must visit the Pantheon to see the temple, and dome. It seems Bernini chipped off a small piece of the dome to see how it was built, for inspiration to build the dome of the St. Peter's Basilica. The spot has been covered now.

Loved this angle of the Colosseum

The rebuilt floor on the far end, basements of the Colosseum and the viewing gallery in the front

From there, we walked all the way on Via Del Corso towards the Colosseum. We had pre-booked tickets to the Colosseum from home, which gave us preferred entry to the Colosseum (long lines). We had printed the voucher for tickets and then you go to the Palantine Hill ticket office and exchange your voucher for the actual tickets. We all needed to be present to get our tickets.

One of the temples in the Forum

We saw the massive Colosseum - they have rebuilt some of the floor to give an idea, and the tickets give you access to the first and second floors. There are stairs. as well as elevators.

The Colosseum was abandoned for years and used a quarry for stone to build some of Rome's finest homes and temples.

We saw the Colosseum floor from a few spots and then we decided to come back to the apartment as we were exhausted under the hot sun. We got a taxi back home and took a short break in the cool air conditioned recesses of our apartment.

Around 5pm, we left again, to visit the Forum, which is a whole area of ruins of once-famous homes of Rome's elite population. Julius Caesar's home is there as well, and he walked on those very streets at one point!!
We read through Rick Steve's guide once more, and around couple of hours later, we were on our way back home.