Ancient – Ailsa’s WTT

Ailsa’s been messing about in Rome… setting challenges for us to pursue. Well, we’ve visited Rome once before… spent 3 days running around the city… getting claustrophobic on the underground, in the trains and buses… never mind being trampled in the Sistine Chapel or St Peters. Never mind the fake swordsmen and gladiators wanting to stick their fake weapons into us because we didn’t want to pay them protection money at that Fountain… or that ancient sporting arena they call the Colosseum.

The only thing? I can tell you all about our visit… it’s rather difficult showing you photos because most of them are stored on the old family PC… yes, the one that crashes every time we attempt to open the photo folders.

Then a thought struck… less violently than a fake gladiator’s fake sword blow… I never actually went in with the family when they went on their Colosseum tour. At that stage I’d had enough of tourists and oppressive crowds… so, I sat outside busying myself with a memory maker of other means… a sketch pad.

There you have it… now I can also show you a version of something ancient… also from the Roma of Nero… with a subtle difference… a few sketches of my views on the day… not as good as a professional’s efforts yet memories of ancient places, my way… a-la me!

We didn’t only visit Rome on that trip. I’d say the most ancient man-made structures I’ve ever personally touched were those to be seen at the archaeological site of Paestum, south of Naples. This ancient Greek city was founded around 600 BC. The three Greek temples are said to be the best preserved to be found anywhere. I’ve even heard it mentioned that once you’ve seen these you’d be disappointed by the one atop the Acropolis in Athens. Talking of Athens… I’ll leave you with my image of the Temple of Athena at Paestum…

I must say, of all the places we had time to visit while in Italy, Paestum stands out. I felt strangely at home there and will return at the first given moment, should the opportunity arise…