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My personal opinion is that I avoid guided tours if at all possible. I am sure I miss some sights when I do so but I also think I dont care. I generally have in mind what I want to see when I go somewhere and definitely dont want to feel rushed when I get there. I like to be able to wander at will and take as long as I want to look and experience things. My wife and I sat by Trajan's Column for something like 45 minutes looking at the Friezes on the column and there must have been 5-10 tour groups come by in the same time. I just don't think you get to really experience somewhere with a group because you are on a schedule. I have also found some gems just wandering. We wandered into a church by the Tiber that had roman ruins underneath it that you could visit for something like 2 euros in 2005, we didnt see one tour group in the hour we spent in and under that church.I guess there is something to be said for both approaches, I have always been confident in my ability to find what I want and get by in foriegn countries with basic language skills. Phrasebook language is generally plenty to get by on a short trip. The big thing is trying to make sure tyou dont get screwed by the locals on prices. they will definitely gouge tourists if they think they can. Watch out for the Rose guys by the Trevi fountain if you go to Rome. they will offer to take a picture of you and your wife and then not give your camera back until you pay them. (Yes, I got gotten there) :'(
One of the benefits of travelling alone rather than in a group, especially a group of Americans, is you won't stick out as a tourist so much. A single person can more easily fit in with the crowds. (that is until you make sounds of awe when at the beach of Marathon or something or start thanking every Athenian and Spartan for saving Western Civilization)One thing I wouldn't mind doing is one of those archaeological tours Phid linked to here a while back. The negative is they might be too restricted to one area though, but then maybe you'll get more access to closed off areas and structures. Something like that would be good for a second trip.
I am planning a trip to Koeniggratz in Czech to do research for my thesis next month and have been in contact with the local battlefield museum. I plan on spending a week walking over the battlefield and talking to the locals. I had the opportunity to take a guided 3-day trip but turned it down. I would much rather go over the battlefield with my personal map on which I have marked all the spots of interest to me. I will probably post a report of how it went went I get back.Like I said, I absolutely avoid guided tours, I would rather stand or fall on my own than listen to a canned speech by a bored guide.
Well unless an agent offers a “Persian War tour” or has a tour that includes the exact number of days in Athens, Sparta, Olympia, and Corinth as I want, I'll go it alone. I'm so much a nerd that I want to spend a few hours just chillin and reading Herodotus at the hill of Pnyx. I wonder if local universities have lecture tours and stuff like that.Yes, take pictures and write a report. That would be interesting. You guys should post more pictures of the historical sites you've visited.
My problem is that it is hard to post pictures on the forum without uploading them to another site, which I am loath to do. Or, I am just too technologically dumb to upload pictures straight to the post. I don't want to have accounts floating all over the internet. I don't do social networking and I certainly don't want a bunch of my pictures floating around on several sites, I would rather only have to post them once. I am somewhat technologically averse when it comes down to it.Phid, Am I right here that you cant insert the picture itself into a post or just too stupid to do it?
You should be able to post them by clicking on the “Additional Options” below the posting box area, and then you can load an attachment on. Right now I have a limit of 400 kb per image, but I can change it if need be. Also, if you don't want the screen to scroll too much it should probably not be about 1000 px in width.
Watch out for the Rose guys by the Trevi fountain if you go to Rome. they will offer to take a picture of you and your wife and then not give your camera back until you pay them. (Yes, I got gotten there) :'(
Interesting. I was with a friend on the steps in front of the Sacre Cour in Paris when some guy tied some type of ethnic bracelet around my friend's wrist and then wanted him to pay for it. I saw it coming but apparently my friend did not.Anyway, I haven't ever been on a sight-seeing tour in Europe (aside from when I was with my class, studying over there) so I don't know how it would be. But I have done traveling in Europe both on my own and with friends, and I think it's probably more fun with someone. From what I gather, though, others seem to like going around solo.I think some kind of field work (whether volunteer or for class credit) would be a lot of fun because you can go places ordinary tourists could not. For example, the professor on the video lecture series on Rome I've been watching mentioned how he went down into the drainage system for one of the amphitheaters, so he knew that it could have been flooded for mock naval battles at one point. I thought that was interesting.
Agrippa built a Pantheon in 27 BC then Hadrian demolished the original structure. He remembered Agrippa by having his name engraved on the new building in 127 AD. Very little was written about the Pantheon on the Campus Martius, the dome is a few feet bigger than the dome at St. Peter's and also larger than Christopher Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral. I have not been there. When you visit these places, does it have a sense of age about it? I mean a palpable flavor. I have been in many 18th century buildings and they have a distinctive aire. I wonder if its just my imagination.
I have not been there. When you visit these places, does it have a sense of age about it? I mean a palpable flavor. I have been in many 18th century buildings and they have a distinctive aire. I wonder if its just my imagination.
I think there is a sense of the age of a place when you walk into it. I think the word that best describes the feeling I get when I walk into a place like the Coliseum, Pantheon, Ancient Cathedrals or other old building is Gravitas. I am typically initially awestruck when I walk into a monumental structure, I usually have the feeling I should whisper. Needless to say, I find monumental works fascinating and have not been to one yet that dissapointed me. It may not have been what I expected but they have all been places I was glad I got to see with my own eyes. I also think my knwledge of history has made seeing many places even more rewarding than for people that see them just because they are famous.I remember standing in front of the Curia in the Roman Forum and being awestruck because that is the place where Caesar was assassinated. It gave me a feeling of actually being able to touch history. I could actually picture the events and it was as though I was seeing the past instead of the present. I have experienced the same thing when I have visited battlefields.
Excellent choice of word “Gravitas.” Many accounts of ghosts on battlefields, energy caught between worlds. It could be manifest purely in the mind, but that makes it real enough.
Good post, scout. It must be amazing to be in a modern city with modern cars and clothing and then see a great ancient structure in the midst of it.
Wikipedia says the Pantheon was built by Agrippa and Hadrian. The columns section has Agrippa's name on it. Did Agrippa just build that part, then the dome was added later by Hadrian?
Adding on to what cadremum said, Hadrian was giving props to Agrippa who lived during the reign of Augustus. By doing this, Hadrian was playing in to the sense of Roman tradition, which was very powerful to the culture. What better way to prop up one's own reign than by invoking the reign of the first emperor?
