Hadrian would have been proud

2007-08-28, Seville, Spain

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On Tuesday, after school (classes finish at 1pm so we have the rest of the day free) Dermot and I took a bus out to Santaponce to see the roman ruins of Italica. It's the place where Hadrian (him of wall building fame) was born and apparently it was the 3rd biggest roman city in their empire. We got there about 4pm ish - the hottest part of the day and enjoyed the free entry into the site (If you are from the European Union access to any historic monuments etc is free - everyone else has to pay, I suppose there are some benfits to the EU !). Hardly surprising we were the only ones there at that time of day because it was seriously sweltering.

I loved this place - you really got a sense of the roman town and the arena was amazing, I could just imagine the locals 2000 years ago having an amphora (spelling?) of wine on the public plaza and then staggering down the road to cheer on the lions v gladiators .... maybe I read too many asterix comics when I was a kid.