El Jem

19 April 2006
Please Note: Due to having no internet access while visiting Tunisia, this photodiary is running late! I will be posting two or three times each day for the next week or so until the diary is running in ‘real time’ again.  Please be sure to use the ‘previous’ link to ensure that you don’t miss any entries.

8 April 2006 – El Jem
We hopped on to another train today and headed south to the village of El Jem.  In the centre of this village is a giant roman “coliseum” – although to strictly accurate it is actually an amphitheatre – there IS only one coliseum – the one in Rome, named after the “colosus” statue that used to stand outside it.

Pedentry about names aside – this is a magnificent building we spent almost three hours wandering round the ruins and photographing it.  One of the most unusual aspects of this amphitheatre is that you can go into the tunnels under the arena where the animals where kept before being hoisted up for the gladiators to fight.