Ancient Rome - Tuesday, October 5th

Our trip from Newark to Spain actually spanned two days because of the time changes. After arriving in Barcelona on Monday October 3 we were taken to the seaport and then headed out towards Rome. Our first day of touring was actually on Tuesday, October 4th which we spent in the city of Rome.

Our first stop was the Coliseum, which wasn't built until after the time of the Apostle Paul. Construction was begun by Emperor Nero and was built near an area where it was believed that the Apostle Paul preached when he was in Rome. More importantly, this was an area that was populated mostly by people who were poor and some historians say that Nero had it burned down on purpose so he could build the Coliseum in this place. Nero then blamed the fire on Christians living in Rome and he used it as a reason to persecute them, including killing the Apostle Paul as part of that persecution.

Below you will see a few pictures of the Coliseum I was able to take. We also drove by the church of St. Paul Beyond the Walls which is located outside of the city center and tradition says is built on the place where Paul is buried.

We also visited the cathedral named St. Paul and Chains which has artwork depicting the beheading of Paul, along with chains encased in glass that are said to be the ones that held the Apostle Peter which were miraculously removed from his arms while he was in prison.

We then went to the Vatican museum which took us through St. Peter's Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel, leaving us outside Vatican square when we were finished. While you are not able to take pictures of the Sistine Chapel there are several pictures below of St. Peter's. One of the most fascinating areas of the museum was a room called the map room with maps painted on the walls from the 1500s that are as accurate as Google Maps.

The second to last photo is of the inside of St. Peter's Cathedral and the orange light you see in the middle is light coming through the stained glass image of a dove representing the Holy Spirit. The final picture is on the road back to our seaport where they're were miles and miles of grapes and wineries.