Author: ashingcon

Scotland is a long way from Rome – it would take about 60 days to march there.

Yet in this far-flung corner of the empire there stands one of the best Roman sites to visit – Hadrian’s Wall.

If you have seen pictures of it, it doesn’t look very spectacular – its no Great Wall. However the real treasure is Vindolanda, the fort and town that housed the soldiers who patrolled the wall. What makes it so special and unique is the fact that the soil is clay and clay is waterproof, which means organic material is preserved here. You never see clothing in a typical Roman museum only metal and stone.

We toured the wall with Rabbies Tours, I highly recommend this company. First we visited a stretch of the wall, then onto Vindolanda. The Rabbies tour guide didn’t talk much about Roman history, mostly Scottish facts and stories. There is a Vindolanda guide who will give you a little tour and give an excellent discussion about the site and its importance, included with admission. There is also a little museum with some amazingly preserved artifacts like: shoes, leather horse armor, wooden combs, wooden shovel, etc.

I’ll take a break from touring and give you some historical facts.

Hadrian ended his predecessor Trajan‘s policy of expanding the empire and instead focused on defending the current borders. The wall was the answer in Britian, since there were no rivers or other natural boundaries. With construction starting in 122, the entire length of the wall was built with an alternating series of forts, each housing 600 men, and manned milecastles, operated by “between 12 and 20 men”. It took six years to build most of Hadrian’s Wall with the work coming from three Roman legions.

Mike Duncan of the History of Rome podcast maintains that the primary purpose of the wall was to control movement, which would be channeled through the gates in the wall, where it could be monitored for information, prevented or permitted as appropriate, and taxed.

I wanted to mention the Antonine wall because it shows that even though Hadrian’s wall already existed the Roman’s still had designs on pushing forward. So the Romans were hanging out near modern day Edinburg and Glasgow.

The other place with some Roman history is the place where all of Scotland’s history resides, in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburg. As mentioned above the Antonine wall proves the Roman’s had a presence in Scotland. There are some of your typical stone carvings, etc. but the artifact I was excited to see the most was a milepost marker. Mary Beard talked about them in one of her documentaries, and I had never seen one before.

So in summary Hadrian’s wall is a very worthwhile detour if you are in Edinburg or Northern England (an hour drive from the Lake District). It is a world class site in the world of Roman ruins.

Don’t worry, we didn’t try any wine in Scotland (though it does exist), this trip was another departure from the wine world, much like our trip to Mexico.

We chose Scotland for two reasons: first, Brenda and I are huge Outlander fans and the scenery in the show looked spectacular; and second, our son Adam is a whisky expert and was interested in seeing a few areas he hadn’t visited before.

To understand Scotch whisky, it’s best to start with a map. You’ll notice that in Scotland, “whisky” is spelled without an “e.”

To be considered a whisky region in Scotland, an area must have at least three operational distilleries. There are five official regions: Lowlands, Islay, Campbeltown, Highlands, and Speyside.

Geographically, Speyside lies within the Highlands, but due to the high concentration of distilleries (around fifty), it has its own distinct region.

Note that the map also shows an area called the Islands, comprised of the western and northern Orkney islands. As far as I know, all the islands are considered part of the Highlands with one exception: Arran. Arran is called “Scotland in Miniature” because a fault line runs through the island. This caused the northern part to be buckled into mountains (the Highlands), while the southern part is flat (the Lowlands). Consequently, the Arran distillery in the north is in the Highlands, and the Lagg distillery in the south is in the Lowlands.

Our trip took us to a few areas not typically on a first-time visitor’s list. Most first-timers head to Speyside for its sheer number of distilleries or to Islay for its famously smoky whisky. That’s exactly what Adam did on his first two trips. (See the bonus blog on these two areas.)

For this tour, our primary destination was Campbeltown. It’s one of Adam’s favorites and, in his opinion, one of the best whisky districts in Scotland—and the only one he hadn’t visited. While researching, I came across the Isle of Arran, which looked interesting, and Adam happened to really like Arran whisky, so we added it.

Knowing we wanted to see the historical Outlander sites, we headed up to Inverness. Using my trusty Rick Steves guide book, I saw that Oban and Fort William were along the way, so we added them in. As it turns out, they both happen to have a distillery. Finally, when looking for distilleries near Inverness, there were one or two nearby, the fifty in Speyside (which Adam had already seen), and three up by Tain. We like small towns for a change of pace and thought Tain would do the trick.

We started our trip in Edinburgh, a true bucket-list destination. The Royal Mile looks like you’ve stepped into medieval times, except for the tourists and the occasional Mickey Mouse. It simply seeps history and was the inspiration for many literary works like Harry Potter and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We didn’t drink any whisky here, just wine and beer. I’ve heard reports that Britain is upping its food scene, especially in London. I can confirm that Edinburgh now has a great food scene. The best meals of the trip were just around the corner from where we were staying on Thistle Street. We spent a week in Edinburgh, though three or four days are all you really need to see the town. The extra time was for the three bus tours we took.

The Edinburgh highlights are the Royal Mile (use the free audio tour on the Rick Steves website), the Castle, the Royal Yacht Britannia, Calton Hill for the city and Firth views, a Harry Potter tour (we did both our own and an organized one), and the National Museum of Scotland. The tours we did were an Outlander filming locations tour and two from Rabbie’s Tours (https://www.rabbies.com/): one to St Andrews and Fife and another to Hadrian’s Wall.

Our next destination was Glasgow, an hour train ride from Edinburgh. We met up with Adam and Tyler (another son) for a whisky tasting after visiting two museums: Riverside and Kelvingrove. They both had some good stuff, but Kelvingrove had one spectacular painting: Christ of St. John of the Cross by Salvador Dalí. There are only a handful of paintings that truly move me, and this was one. Dalí is known for his crazy surrealism, so I was very surprised to see a conventional-style painting. We had a day to kill in Glasgow before our next leg, so Brenda and I found a website (https://justinpluslauren.com/glasgow-mural-trail/) with an interactive map of street art, and there were some really good ones.

The other thing we did that day was repack our luggage so it would make it on the plane. We had to ensure we weren’t overweight, because the luggage wouldn’t be allowed on otherwise. Luckily, the Marriott Adam was staying at allowed us to keep our luggage there since we were coming back to Glasgow.

When we got to the airport and saw our plane, we understood the weight restriction: it was a Canadian bush plane, the Twin Otter. A great plane, but small. This plane offered a great aerial tour thanks to its low-flying altitude. You can get to Campbeltown by bus, but a scenic 45-minute flight versus a four-hour-plus bus ride was an easy decision. Here’s another pro tip: small towns in Scotland don’t have taxis waiting at the airports. It’s best to book one ahead of time. I was given this advice by Tyler and booked Roy’s Taxi, who never showed up. Luckily, we were able to get hold of Tavies Taxis. We used them again another time to go out to Davaar Island. Both drivers were friendly and very interesting to talk to. My breath hitched in my throat when I saw the view from our AirBnB; it was the best view of the harbor we could find. This is what I came to Scotland for—the beautiful scenery.

The Springbank family of whisky companies includes the Springbank Distillery, the Glengoyne Distillery, and Cadenhead independent bottler. They each offer their own tastings and tours, so if you are going all this way, you’ll want to book three tours. You’ll definitely want to do a Springbank tour, as it’s one of the few that still malts its own barley, which you get to see on the tour.

I knew that most of the flavor in whisky comes from the barrel, but in Scotland, every place said that 30% of the flavor comes from the distilled spirit and 70% from the barrel. So I decided I would try to figure out which wood I liked best. Here is another pro tip: make use of the tasting bar. You will get one to four or five drams (25ml) to taste, depending on the tour. A basic tour will give you their big seller to try and maybe one of their good ones. Adam will always pick a tasting, often done in the warehouse, over a tour. The process is the same everywhere (except for Springbank’s malting floor), so you just want to get to the tasting. The tasting bar allows you to try some different whiskies that aren’t on the tour.

I took advantage of this option to help me determine my preferred wood. It turns out I like “sweet wood,” my term, not an industry term—feel free to use it. “Sweet wood” means the barrel was used to age a sweet alcoholic liquid. The two sweet woods I determined suited my palate were Port and Pedro Ximénez. Pedro Ximénez is a spectacular dessert sherry wine that tastes like liquid raisins; it’s often referred to as PX for short. Sometimes you have to ask what kind of sherry cask was used, because there are five or six different kinds used in Scotland.

I think I figured out why I wasn’t a Scotch fan before: I just hadn’t found my wood. I was also able to determine that I am not a fan of ex-bourbon cask whisky. Unfortunately, everyone makes a version, since bourbon barrels are the cheapest. The reason is that bourbon requires a virgin barrel for every batch, so they have a lot of barrels to get rid of. Port and PX barrels have a much smaller supply, especially PX, since it’s not well known or widely consumed. As a result, Port and PX barrels can cost ten times that of bourbon barrels. This all translates into price, so for your sake, I hope you like bourbon as opposed to my pricy sweet wood. By the way, there is another sweet wood I didn’t get the chance to try: a Sauternes.

On day two in Campbeltown, Adam and Tyler went to the third distillery in town, Glen Scotia. Brenda and I wanted to go biking. Apparently, like taxis, you have to book bikes ahead. The bike shop was a closed warehouse door. So we pivoted and took a bus out to Davaar Island. There’s a spit of land you can walk on to get to the island at low tide. We started walking but decided it was too far. We did take our binoculars and were able to see these black and white birds with bright orange beaks. The Tavies taxi driver told us they were oyster catchers. We bumped into a couple of big lads and their father. They had fishing gear and were headed for the island. We had a “small world” incident that evening for dinner at the Lochside restaurant. They seat you in a room until they are ready for you in the dining room. The two lads and their dad showed up, so we had someone and something to talk about. I love these random travel events.

When I was poking around the internet for Campbeltown, I ran across the island of Arran. I asked Adam if he knew anything about it, and he showed me his collection of Arran whiskies. Doing a bit of research, it became clear that you need a vehicle to tour this island. So I did a search and came up with Kirstin at www.starfishtravel.scot. What a find that was. This is only the second time we have used a private tour company, and we are getting spoiled. Kirstin is professional, has a great personality, and is a consummate whisky expert. It was quite entertaining listening to Adam and Kirstin discuss whisky. The day before pick-up, Kirstin asked if she could bring her black lab on the trip. We love dogs and miss our grand-pup when traveling, so we were very happy to have Roy join us.

We went on a couple of hikes on the island. One gave us the perfect view of the Lowlands transitioning into the Highlands. The other was to some stone circles; Brenda keeps pressing her hand on the stones to go back in time to meet a strapping highlander.

I mentioned Arran has two distilleries; the one in the north is the Arran distillery and has non-peated whisky, and the one in the south is the Lagg distillery and has peated whisky. They are both owned by the same company. Spending two days on the island required us to stay overnight at the Corrie hotel. It was very reasonably priced, cozy, and had good food. The tour ended back in Glasgow.

The next day, Adam, Brenda, and I headed up to Oban; Tyler went home. Oban is a lovely little town right on the water. Unfortunately, this is where we ran into the worst weather of our trip. The rain was coming sideways, and umbrellas were turning into pretzels. This is where I understood why the Scotch invented and consume whisky: it’s the only thing that can warm you from the inside out. Of course, Oban has a distillery called Oban, but it’s pronounced Obin. I was looking for some live music, but it only started at my bedtime. However, we did have some fun at the pub. A couple came in with the cutest little toy poodle (our grand-pup’s breed). They were so friendly once they saw we are dog lovers. The funny part was that this guy looked like a biker or hitman from central casting.

Moving north, we bused up to Fort William. This place worried me; it was difficult to find good, reasonably priced accommodations with a decent location. However, it all worked out fine. So here’s the layout of the town: at the top are the train and bus stations, then the High Street with restaurants and shopping, and then guest houses stretch out across from the loch. If you look on a map, you will see it’s not a real freshwater lake; it’s an extension of the ocean. I only figured this out when I saw a cruise ship one morning on the “lake.” We stayed at Ardlinnhe Cottage, a ten-minute walk to the High Street.

We did three main activities here: the Ben Nevis distillery, the Jacobite Express (also known as the Hogwarts train from Harry Potter), and a hike in Glen Nevis. The distillery had a nice tour at a very historic site, which will be 200 years old in 2025. I didn’t get any sweet wood whisky here, so it wasn’t my favorite.

The train ride was great, and it would have been spectacular if it wasn’t raining. The scenery was the most dramatic, with rocky mountains covered in grass. The gullies at Glenfinnan were stunning, although it was difficult to appreciate because this is where the viaduct is. You get a great view of the viaduct one way, and you switch seats for the other way. What was a bit amazing were the hundreds of people lined up along the hillsides looking to get their picture. You get a couple of hours in Mallaig to grab lunch and go shopping. Of course, there is a wizarding supply store in town for the people who dressed up as wizards on the train. We managed to get a hike in without getting rained on. The highlight was either seeing two highland coos (that’s not a typo, that’s what they call highland cows) or the beer from the local town nearby. Beer is very local in Scotland. The beer I had out in Glencoe you couldn’t find a half-hour away in Fort William. It was the same everywhere. The only place I saw Arran beer was across the water in Campbeltown. When we were up north in Tain, we were getting Orkney beer. By the way, these local brews, usually in a bottle, were fantastic.

The city of Inverness was quite nice with the River Ness running through it. Inverness did not have a distillery in it, but that didn’t stop us from drinking whisky. Adam found a whisky shop called the Malt Room where you can taste a dram and then buy a bottle across the street at the Malt Shop if you like it. So, thinking that I like Port finishes, I tried a dram of Tomatin 14-year-old Port Casks and I liked it, so I bought a bottle (50ml, haha). We went to the highland games to get a bit of local culture. It was great to see the procession of the pipe band and a few sports. I was hoping there would be more interaction with the locals, but that’s my imagination getting carried away. Like most shows, they put the favorite competitions at the end of the day. We were getting tired and bored, so we missed the caber toss, but we did get to see the hammer throw and shot put.

The next day we did another Rabbie’s tour, this one of the historical Outlander sites. They don’t call it that, but knowing the show, it’s pretty easy to spot the Culloden battlefield on the itinerary. The funniest or maybe saddest thing we saw at Culloden was the grave marker of the Fraser clan being cordoned off. Damn disrespectful tourists ruining things for the rest of us. The other main site we visited was Clava Cairns; this was the inspiration for the standing stones in the novel. It was a very interesting site. There were a couple of other stops as well. Camille, our French guide, was excellent. This young lady did her research and had so many interesting stories and facts. This quality of guide is why you want to use Rabbie’s for your day tours. The one thing Inverness offered that was on my list but I couldn’t find anywhere else in Scotland was a bar with live entertainment that didn’t start at 10 p.m. The bar was the Highlander, and the band was great, playing a mix of top 40 and Scottish folk songs all at 7 p.m.

On to our last and maybe best town of Tain. Tain was the smallest (population 3,570) and quaintest town we stayed in. One reason for the fond memories was our accommodations at St. Duthus Guesthouse. The rooms were lovely, and we really liked the fresh fruit for breakfast, but the proprietor, Kim, was such a kind and wonderful person. Adam and I had a whisky tasting booked at Balblair shortly after we checked in. Kim phoned the taxi (only one in town), but she was only able to pick us up, not take us there. So Kim took us herself and refused any kind of payment. She told us to “pay it forward.” Dinner was easy with a three-minute walk back to the train station, where a lovely little restaurant resided. Being this far north, we were getting Orkney beer, which was excellent.

The next day, Brenda and I went to Portmahomack to learn more about the Celtic tribe, the Picts. Adam went to Brora Distillery and had one dram of a 39-year-old whisky that sells for $28,000 a bottle. Apparently, it was exceptionally smooth. Our last day in Tain was at the big boy in town, Glenmorangie. The first place they send you when you arrive is the museum. That is where they tell you how to pronounce their name, and it’s not what we were saying—it rhymes with “orange-y.” One thing about distilleries owned by big corporations (Glenmorangie is owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) is that their facilities are very nice, especially the tasting bar and sales room. Since I was running out of room in my suitcase, I really liked the little three-pack I bought; each was 100ml. I found another Port barrel whisky, and it was in the three-pack.

To finish off the tour, we made our way back to Edinburgh. We had a day to kill, so we all went on a Harry Potter tour and went back to the National Museum.

The least painful way to learn Roman history is The History of Rome podcast.

Link = The History of Rome (podcast) – Wikipedia

Mike Duncan explains the history of Rome from its founding (753BC) to the collapse of the Western Empire in 476.

There are three main periods of Roman history

Early Period or Pre-Republic 753-509BC – myth and Kings

Republic 509-27BC – Rome starts to establish itself as a major power in the Mediterranean

Empire 27BC – 476AD – I’ve listed all the emperors Here .

Before I started down this path of discovery I had no idea what the fall of the Western Empire meant.

I understood the concept of an empire falling, but what was the Western Empire?

The Western Empire was Rome. The name implies another Empire, and there is also an Eastern empire.

In 324 Constantine decided to move the capital to Byzantium. Byzantium was a Greek city under Roman control. It was selected since it juts out into the sea which made it much more defensible than Rome.

Rome was under constant threat from various barbarian tribes. The Eastern Roman empire is now referred to as the Byzantine empire by historians to prevent confusion with the original Western Empire. The Byzantine Empire lasted almost 1000 years until the Ottoman Turks finally beat them in 1453.

The history of the Romans continues in The History of Byzantium. Link = The History of Byzantium | A podcast telling the story of the Roman Empire from 476 AD to 1453

The craziest story from the podcast was the Greek navy was checking out all the little islands checking for enemies after the war. They ran across some people who said they were Roman. It seems crazy to us on the outside but apparently the Byzantines considered themselves Roman and kept calling themselves and their subjects Roman. Apparently it was not uncommon in the 18^th and 19^th centuries for people in Greece to call themselves Roman. Its fun history like this that intrigues me. Its also another example of the Romans impacting us (in this case the Greeks) today.

One of the world’s leading authorities on Roman history is Mary Beard. The one book of hers that I started was pretty hard slogging. However she has an excellent show on Prime called Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit .

The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 BC – 68 AD) Julius Caesar, who lends his name to Julio, was on his way to becoming an emperor but was killed.

Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) Established what a Roman emperor should be.

Tiberius (14 AD – 37 AD)

Caligula (37 AD – 41 AD) is a nickname that means “little boots”. His real name is Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. He is considered the worst emperor ever and was diagnosed as mad.  He wore women’s clothes around the palace; he claimed he was going to make his horse consul.

Claudius (41 AD – 54 AD) became an unlikely emperor after Caligula was killed. The old I Claudius on PBS was a great show 35 years ago.

Nero (54 AD – 68 AD

The Year of the Four Emperors (68 – 69 AD)

Galba (68 AD – 69 AD)

Otho (68 – 69 AD)

Vitellius (69 AD)

The Flavian Dynasty (69 AD – 96 AD)

Vespasian (69 AD – 79 AD) commissioned  the Colosseum around A.D. 70-72

Titus (79 AD – 81 AD)

Domitian (81 AD – 96 AD)

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty (96 AD – 192 AD)

Nerva (96 AD – 98 AD)

Trajan (98 AD – 117 AD)

Hadrian (117 AD – 138 AD) best known for his wall in Britan, was a Spaniard.

Antoninus Pius (138 AD – 161 AD)

Marcus Aurelius (161 AD – 180 AD) & Lucius Verus (161 AD – 169 AD)

Commodus (180 AD – 192 AD)

The Year of the Five Emperors (193 AD – 194 AD)

Pertinax (193 AD)

Didius Julianus (193 AD)

Pescennius Niger (193 AD – 194 AD)

Clodius Albinus (193 AD – 197 AD)

The Severan Dynasty (193 AD – 235 AD)

Septimius Severus (193 AD – 211 AD)

Caracalla (211 AD – 217 AD)

Geta (211 AD)

Macrinus (217 AD – 218 AD)

Diaumenian (218 AD)

Elagabalus (218 AD – 222 AD)

Severus Alexander (222 AD – 235 AD)

The Crisis of the Third Century (235 AD – 284 AD)

Maximinus Thrax (235 AD – 238 AD) known as the only Barbarian emperor

Gordian I (238 AD)

Gordian II (238 AD)

Pupienus (238 AD)

Balbinus (238 AD)

Gordian III (238 AD – 244 AD)

Phillip I (244 AD – 249 AD)

Phillip II (247 AD – 249 AD)

Decius (249 AD – 251 AD)

Herrenius Etruscus (251 AD)

Trebonianus Gallus (251 AD – 253 AD)

Hostilian (251 AD)

Volusianus (251 – 253 AD)

Aemilianus (253 AD)

Sibannacus (253 AD)

Valerian (253 AD – 260 AD)

Gallienus (253 AD – 268 AD)

Saloninus (260 AD)

Claudius Gothicus (268 AD – 270 AD)

Quintillus (270 AD)

Aurelian (270 AD – 275 AD)

Tacitus (275 AD – 276 AD)

Florianus (276 AD)

Probus (276 AD – 282 AD)

Carus (282 AD – 283 AD)

Carinus (283 AD – 285 AD)

Numerian (283 AD – 284 AD)

The Tetrarchy (284 AD – 324 AD) – governing of the Empire was split into East and West with a Senior emperor and a Junior emperor in each. This was done because the Empire was large and cumbersome.

Diocletian (284 AD – 305 AD) reformed the governing structure into a Tetrarchy. The only emperor to voluntarily retired, as opposed to ones who were encouraged at sword point. His retirement home is in Spilt Croatia.

Maximian (286 AD – 305 AD)

Galerius (305 AD – 311 AD)

Constantius I (305 AD – 306 AD)

Severus II (306 AD – 307 AD)

Maxentius (306 AD – 312 AD)

Licinius ( 308 AD – 324 AD)

Maximinus II (310 AD – 313 AD)

Valerius Valens (316 AD – 317 AD)

Martinian (324 AD)

The Constantinian Dynasty (306 AD – 364 AD)

Constantine I (306 AD – 337 AD) adopted Christianity as the state religion. He moved the capital to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople, modern day Istanbul.

Constantine II (337 AD – 340 AD)

Constans I (337 AD – 350 AD)

Constantius II (337 AD – 361 AD)

Magnentius (350 AD – 353 AD)

Nepotianus (350 AD)

Vetranio (350 AD)

Julian (361 AD – 363 AD)

Jovian (363 AD – 364 AD)

The Valentinian Dynasty (364 AD – 394 AD)

Valentinian I (364 AD – 375 AD)

Valens (364 AD – 378 AD)

Procopius (365 AD – 366 AD)

Gratian (375 AD – 383 AD)

Magnus Maximus (383 AD – 388 AD)

Valentinian II (388 AD – 392 AD)

Eugenius (392 AD – 394 AD)

The Theodosian Dynasty (379 AD – 457 AD)

Theodosius I (379 AD – 395 AD)

Arcadius (395 AD – 408 AD)

Honorius (395 AD – 423 AD)

Constantine III (407 AD – 411 AD)

Theodosius II (408 AD – 450 AD) The double Theodosian Walls of Constantinople were built under his reign

Priscus Attalus (409 AD – 410 AD)

Constantius III (421 AD)

Johannes (423 AD – 425 AD)

Valentinian III (425 AD – 455 AD)

Marcian (450 AD – 457 AD)

Leo I and the Last Emperors in the West (455 AD – 476 AD)

Leo I (457 AD – 474 AD)

Petronius Maximus (455 AD)

Avitus (455 AD – 456 AD)

Majorian (457 AD – 461 AD)

Libius Severus (461 AD – 465 AD)

Anthemius (467 AD – 472 AD)

Olybrius (472 AD)

Glycerius (473 AD – 474 AD)

Julius Nepos (474 AD – 475 AD)

Romulus Augustus (475 AD – 476 AD) the last Western Roman emperor

As I mentioned in the introduction this first empty-nester trip to the Southern Rhone planted the seeds of interest in the Romans. At the time my knowledge of the Romans was primarily based on pop culture like the movie Gladiator. I knew that France was called Gaul and Julius Caesar had conquered Gaul. What I didn’t realize was the degree of  colonization/occupation of Gaul. I now understand that the Roman model of conquest was to keep taking over lands and people, tax them, even enroll them into your armies (Russel Crowe’s gladiator was a general from Spain). As a result there is a treasure trove of sites scattered throughout the Mediterranean and France is one of them.

Probably the most famous Roman site in the area is the most famous Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard. It was built during the first century CE. It was once the 50-kilometre-long water source for the ancient Roman colony of Nemausus. The engineering prowess to build these structures just amazes me. Look at those arches. The most impressive part of these aqueducts is the water has to flow, which means that for 50 kilometers the structure had to slope very gently downhill from the source to the city of Nemausus.

Orange, just north of Avignon, is the location of two Unesco sites. This is where we saw our first Roman theater. It was in great shape.  A theater is a half a circle with the stage in the middle of the flat part. Romans used theatres to present plays. This one was built in 35 BCE.

One of my favorite towns is Arles. Its not too big and is easily walkable with great sites and charm. Arles has its own Amphitheater, just a baby compared to the Coliseum in Rome, but still cute. Since this is the first blog about amphitheaters, I thought I would explain what they are. An amphitheatre is a circle, so two theaters stuck together but with no stage in the middle. Amphi means “around” in Greek. The Romans used amphitheaters for gladiator fights and other entertainment for its citizens.  The exterior structure is in good shape but the interior seating was plundered to build churches. Objects from the arena and the surrounding area are in the excellent Musee Departemental Arles Antique museum. This is where we saw our first mosaic and fell in love with them. The artistry and craftsmanship are stunning.

Nimes has a larger amphitheater but we couldn’t tour it because Adele decided to sing that day. You see this everywhere in Europe, where they hold concerts in Roman amphitheatres and theatres. The Maison Carrée is one of the best preserved Roman temple façades to be found in the territory of the former Roman Empire. There are a couple of other sites in town as well. I think this is probably a good place to see some excellent sites as long as you can get into the arena.

Glanum is the ruins of a Roman town near Saint-Rémy de Provence. You can visit the sanatorium where Van Gogh was recuperating from an ear ache at the same time. What makes Glanum stand out isn’t the big amphitheaters, it is its simplicity. At the top were the temples and baths, then the water flowed down the street under paving stones which the citizens could direct into their house, the sewer ran under the street as well. Ancient plumbing at its best. You can see the layout of the houses. If you squint real hard or drink a bottle of Chateau Neuf de Pape you can almost see people strolling down the street in their togas.

Wow I guess we saw more Roman sites on this trip than I remembered. It definitely made an impression and piqued our interest. In fact upon reflection, I now realize this trip planted the Roman seeds into my brain. This is where Brenda developed her fascination with mosaics.

Roman sites were not on our radar for this trip as it was a wine touring. However that’s the great part of traveling around the Mediterranean, you just trip over these sites. Our first site was Tarragona, just South of Barcelona along the coast. It’s a nice little amphitheater with a dramatic view of the sea. The Roman town was called Tarraco and was a major administrative and mercantile city in Roman Spain. Unfortunately I wasn’t deep into my Roman hobby at the time and didn’t see the aqueduct, forums, cemetery and museum. If you are in Barcelona, its an easy day trip; just do your homework before you go.

 The second site was the aqueduct in Segovia. What is special about this structure is it is in the middle of the city. It is in remarkably good shape for being 2000 years old. The aqueduct was built in the first century AD and was 17km long. The Roman name of the town was Segovia – that’s a first, I’ve seen names that look similar but never the same.

This was a wine trip to the nearby Valpolicella wine area. We had to see Verona because its beautiful and we are tourists so needed to see Juliet’s balcony.

However as usual one just trips over Roman sites. Verona just happened to have a little amphitheater. Unfortunately we didn’t get to tour the inside because of Adele. Europeans use these Roman and Greek amphitheaters to stage all types of productions from concerts to plays and even MMA.

The Arena had a capacity of 30,000 (pretty good size considering the coliseum held 50,000). It was built in 30AD. Verona was on a major road system and was known as Verona in Roman times.