It is one of those iconic travel locations that you can’t stop thinking about – just like Machu Picchu. It is when you know you have reached “that” point in your life when you can finally cross off another big one off your list.
I never thought I would experience the Colosseum with a tour group. I mean, normally we avoid them like the plague, making catty comments about the plethora of fanny packs, blue hair, and sparkly shirts. Enter Walks of Italy – the brand that single handedly changed my outlook on the concept of the tour altogether.
Our guide Vincente rocked our faces off. He was incredibly knowledgable, made us giggle, and opened our eyes to the real history of Rome and the Colosseum. With a maximum of 10-12 people per group, I felt like I was part of the discussion rather being preached at. This was an experience that really made me reconsider heading back to school for that elusive archaeology or anthropology degree. I’m fascinated.
The tour starts out with a brief history of the Arch of Constantine. This baby can be found in Renaissance art and represents the triumph of the Christians over the pagans. The really cool thing is that quite a few artists included this piece of architecture in many of their renderings of religious stories from the Bible – you know – to really drive it home. After seeing it, I really started to notice the prevalence of it.
Vincente took us over to the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill to give us a great history of the before and after regarding the Colosseum. It is really crazy to be walking on so many dynasties of Roman history. Like, literally, there are hundreds of years that were built on top of each other. With every new emperor came new construction on the palaces and old rooms were buried. They are still uncovering new things every day!
But nothing could compare to the epicness that came along with being part of the Colosseum VIP tour that took you into closed off areas of the Colosseum.
As we descended onto the floor of the arena, Vincente stopped us. Not only did we have an amazing view that so many gladiators had centuries before, but he put his finger up to his lips to quiet us down.
Out of a small iPhone speaker came the smallest of noise in the biggest of arenas….
The Gladiator movie song.
Oh yes.
With a wink and a smile, Vincente marched us forward onto the arena floor.
It was like a dream come true. As I stared into the massiveness that is the Colosseum, I couldn’t believe I was where I was – the most coveted spot in the entire place.
People gawked, pointed, whispered, and were green with envy. Shaun and I were sitting there with the goofiest of grins.
Oh yeah, this is why we do this.
There are no words for how amazing the view is. Really. You just have to take a peek at the picture because I just have… nothing.
We descended even further – this time into the damp, dark, moist underbelly of the Colosseum. We passed by old elevator chutes (that were manually cranked by slave labor), dark hallways with little to no light, and even to where the lions and tigers were kept before heading to the arena floor. So many slaves lived out their lives here. My mind nearly exploded from thinking about how much history – how many different stories – occurred in a single space.
We also had access to the highest tier – the third floor. There are only a handful of companies is Rome that even have the clearance these guys have and they were pulling out all the stops. We slowly climbed to the third floor on the craziest and steepest stairs I had been on in some time. They almost rival some of the stairs found at Teotihuacan in Mexico. Slow and steady. Make sure you don’t look down.
With the self proclaimed best view in Rome, I can’t really argue with them.
We just sat back, smiled, and enjoyed the view. Walks of Italy really hit a homerun on this one – I can’t look at tours the same again. When you have people who actually enjoy their line of work it makes all the difference.
Italy was shaping up to be an amazing experience and I couldn’t wait to see what was next.
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Disclosure: We were guests of Walks of Italy but all opinions are our own. But seriously, these guys are AH.MA.ZING!
hey! sooooo…ok, were those rooms Under the Colosseum originally?? the quarters for slaves, animals and such. because, the view from the top doesn’t look like there was a “floor” for a fighting arena? i’m confused how the set up was before? they must have uncovered the underground so that people could see what was there? hmmm….
also, i’ve climbed Teotihuacan before ….. and MAN was that a climb! i had NO idea that the Colosseum was like that too! wow! i’m trying to lose a few pounds…maybe i should head to rome! hahah
Umm that view from the third floor floor? MIND-BLOWING!!!
Every time I read something about Walks of Italy, it makes me want to book a trip to Italy like, yesterday!
oh MY GOSH.. these are the most amazing photos I have seem from Colosseum. You brought back my memory!! and your get some nice tour… we went by ourself so we had to figure out things by reading the book and walking at the same time. Almost bump into people haha.
I’m jealous! I went to the Colosseum with family friends, and we just did the regular entry. I would definitely pay the extra for this tour to get to go down into the lower levels.
They were there but a lot of the floor was removed (they just rebuilt it) and you couldn’t see much. Also, a few of the rooms were WAY behind and you couldn’t see them from the top.
I KNOW. I had a huge grin on my face the ENTIRE TIME. They are good lady – like REALLY GOOD. Check them out when you can!
Thank you! *blush* Coming from you that is a big deal! I’ve done the book tour – I couldn’t imagine doing it at the Colosseum with how many people are there. Good on ya!
Oh yeah – I’m sure that if people KNEW about what was possible, money would be flowing like crazy.
Did you get an intense vibe while down below. I’d think seeing it and knowing the history would do that.
YES. Just knowing how many lives went into it really overwhelmed me. I get that often when dealing with locations like this with so much history.
I was there last summer! It was wonderful I love travelling Greetings from Istanbul. Thanks for sharing!
It was raining when I was there but I loved this tour as well. Rome is amazing!
Gotta call Steve… I wanna go on this tour now!!
When I went there and had the same tour the Gladiator had just come out in cinema and suddenly the scenes within the Colosseum kind of revived my imagination. The structure does impress you even at the current state, and wonder how magnificent would had looked on its full glory
Nice post
Ervin
Rome is amazing. Definitely one of my favorite cities.
Wow ,I haven’t seen the internal view of the Colosseum, everything , every wall and every view makes me imagining about the ancient days of Italy when people used to visit it for seeing the Gladiators . Thanks for such beautiful pictures Erica.
AMAZING! I love feeling like an insider and it sounds like this is THE tour to do so on! Great photos as always.
Haha I totally know what you mean by avoiding tour groups like the plague. I almost succeeded in never having to go on one, except my friends in Barcelona pulled a fast one on me. They told me we were meeting for breakfast and to hang out on La Rambla, but they had actually booked a tour of the cities architectural wonders instead! If I’d known ahead of time I woulda called in sick. I’m glad I didn’t though, because like your experience in Rome, it ended up to be a very informative and fun experience. It kind of helped that I had a cougar crush on the tour guide. Her name was Isabela and she had a great voice.
Great photos, but I would prefer more actual gladiators! 🙂
You guys are SO VIP!!! Such a great experience. I went for the first time when I was 12 and barely remember. When I went back to Rome again at 22, I did nothing but party. I need to meet in the middle now that I’m old.
Is it terrible that I never went inside the Colosseum? I do have fantastic night photos from it though..
OOoooo! I would love to visit Istanbul one day (when we have money again lol!). Thanks for dropping by the comment!
I can only imagine what the Colosseum looks like in the rain – especially downstairs where the water collects!
GET ON IT!
Thank you for your kind words Ervin. I couldn’t help but try to imagine what it was like in all its glory. I wonder what it sounded like!
Rome was a bit trying to be honest. It almost broke me. If it wasn’t for things like this, I would have left lol!
You are very welcome! I’m feel so lucky to be able to share my experiences with you. I think everyone should know how amazing the inside is!
HAHA! Well, at least you got there! I think tours are just stigmatized by the rotten tomatoes out there.
Oh Caanan – so would I… so would I…
Although, the average height of men back then was 5’4″. I don’t care how buff you are. That is just weird for me.
HAHA! Says the VIP queen herself! We didn’t do any partying while in Rome due to us staying out in the boonies. I’m kinda sad we missed out on that!
Nah – it isn’t terrible. It was a fantastic experience but if that isn’t your thing I wouldn’t do it. <3
What great photos of the ruins that still stand today. Looked like you guys had a great trip! Thanks for sharing, and good luck with future travels.
Thanks Lauren!