Trip to Itálica

Yesterday a friend and I took a trip to Itálica. Itálica was the first Roman town in Spain. Founded in 206 BC by a roman general in order to settle his wounded soldiers after a battle. We left Sevilla from the bus station and traveled for about 30 minutes to the town of Santiponce. Santiponce is a small town about 5 miles north of Sevilla. Itálica is on the outskirts of this small town that had only a population of 7,000 people. The bus ride was quick, but the driver for some reason shout when speaking to anyone. However, he was nice enough to tell us which stop to get off and where the entrance was to Itálica. 

The ruins were exactly that - ruins. There was a large amphitheater in the center as you walked in. This held battles between animals, humans, ships, etc. Similar to what you would see in the Movie Gladiator. The whole town was basically an outdoor museum. There was bread making ovens in the center of town, hot baths, rooms for men to relax, etc. Everything a small ancient community needed to survive. It was quite a large area of land and we spent the day walking the roads and exploring all the little corners of the city. 

Hallway the circles the ampitheater

One of the biggest of all Roman amphitheaters - the center pit was for naval battles to take place

Looking into the amphitheater

Very pretty and well maintained

taking some photos

stray cat in the park

 

Thermal Baths

Small pond at one end of the city

Looking down onto the ampitheater

Floating? 

Inside the windows is an oven for bread

Sevilla in the distance - Can you see the Giralda?

Santiponce with Sevilla in the Distance

Santiponce

When we got back to Sevilla there was a lot of people gathered at the roundabout just outside the bus station. There was a few police directing traffic and an ambulance made its way on to the scene. You could not pay me enough for me to agree to ride a scooter/motorcycle on the roads here. People are insane! We walked up and I saw a man getting taken away on a strecher. There was his scooter dinged and thrown onto the sidewalk with a group of people standing around watching. The accident couldn't have happened but a few minutes earlier. In the middle of the roundabout by the officers directing the traffic was a girl standing next to her car talking with police. Hopefully the guy was alright.

Front fender smashed

Police getting some info

Itálica was a lot of fun and I am glad I made the day trip. There are quite of small towns around Sevilla that I have heard are beautiful to visit. I am going to start trying to head to at least one a week. 

It is almost noon on Saturday. I just finished drinking some coffee and now I am going to figure out what I am doing today. Its beautiful out, so hopefully something fun :)