Santiponce

This morning we left Carmona at 9am and We’d had a good nights sleep which was good because our first stop was a massive decathlon store on the edge of Seville. I managed to spend my birthday vouchers on tops and t-shirts and some spares for cycling.
Our next stop was just a mile away at a garage to do our laundry and this took hours because we had to wait for a 14kg machine to become available then we had to wait for it to wash, then we had to wait for it to dry so we eventually left there at 2pm.
We were just going to drive to our overnight stop but I really wanted to visit Santiponce as I knew it was open today and although google says it’s open on Sundays we’ve lucked out there before.
Santiponce is actually built on the Roman city of Italica but a small portion of the former city remains protected and open to the public. This includes an almost intact amphitheatre.
We arrived at 2:30pm and paid £1:50 each to enter the site that sits on a 2 mile square section of protected land and it’s really impressive. For anyone that has seen any Roman films or series or has any interest in that aspect of history it is a must see.
This was our first intact amphitheatre and it was unreal. We could even walk where the gladiators waited to go into battle. To make it even better there was a big football match going on nearby and we could hear all the cheering. The amphitheatre must have been a terrifying place if you were going there to fight.
From the amphitheatre we walked on the original Roman streets that are 1st and 2nd century. These are 1800 years old, the time of Marcus Aurelius the emperor in gladiator and Hadrian.
Here we walked through the streets and town that was laid out in a grid formation and although the roofs and most walls have long since disappeared. The floors and mosaic tiles are still there and intact. It was an amazing place to walk around and I’m really pleased the helicopter on La Vuelta flew over it so we knew about it. It is far easier to get into than Seville.
Our park up for the night is literally 100 meters away from Italica in a car park with several other motorhomes.Baca lagi