Thursday—Many more Roman Highlights—by Sam (photos by Kelli)

After leaving the metro station, we took a quick stroll to the Church of Santa Maria di Cosmedin , a beautiful Christian church (near the metro stop of circus Maximus). At the Church, there is a Roman sewer grate that was turned into a face and called the “mouth of truth” (if you stick you hand in the mouth and lie it ‘will’ bite your hand). 

As well as marvelous mosaics and plenty of graves, there was the head of Saint Valentine. 

After the visit to the old, Catholic Church, we visited the previously misidentified Temple of Heracles, and while we were looking at the building, a group of college students were admitted in while we were only allowed around the fence.

 The next rectangular temple right next to the other temple and church we was unidentified, which led to disappointment for how much remained compared to others. A few blocks away and a quick walk led us to the porticos of Octavia, built by Augustus the first emperor in honor of, not his wife, but his sister. Unlike most others, this Porticus was named after a woman, his beloved sister. 

Returning from where we came, we arrived at the circus Maximus, a stadium built for 250,000 people to watch chariot racing. While it was made for chariots, I conducted a race on the tracks (the race was much less than the whole stadium) which Will won much to the chagrin of Eddie.  

After a comparatively longer walk, we arrived at the baths of Caracalla, in which we had around 45 minutes to walk around and enjoy the beauty of the park and the scale of the baths. I saw several people, myself included, use this time to reflect on how this trip is feeling for each of us. 

Another walk towards the best sandwich place I’ve eaten at, full of local Italians and we were on our way to an artificial hill. 

Next we had a tour led by a lady with a thick Italian accent told us about Monte Testaccio, the mountain of pots we walked on, scaling 100 feet up. These were discarded ancient Roman pottery that held oil and wine that was shipped to Rome by boat through the port of Ostia. 

After a history of the pots and an amazing view, we strolled  towards a pyramid inside the Aurelian walls, the resting place of Caius Cestius. On the other side of a road (this specific street had a lot of crosswalks) there was a building related to the pontifex Maximus of the time (the pope) Benedict the 13th. 

Afterwards we ate dinner, and celebrated Lexi’s birthday with another trip to Giolitti. A great end to a great day.