Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Italica, 2010

En route to Cordoba, we thought we'd swing by Italica, a
few miles northwest of Seville, and see the largest and
finest Roman ruins in all of Spain (which is saying
something), the city of Italica; Italica started out as a camp
for wounded soldiers in the 2nd Punic War, 2nd century
BC, and then grew and grew; the coliseum, above
(someone else's photo), seated 30,000; Carthago delenda
est!






We began to think something was amiss when, nearing the
town, we noted a super-abundance of busses, parked cars,
officials, closed roads, barricades, police, and hundreds of
very skinny and skimpily-clad persons, numbered, running 
around; it was the 28th annual Italico Cross Country, apparently 
very big race of this type; the nice person at the Officina
de Tourisme helpfully suggested this was not perhaps the
best day to try and see the ruins, even if we could find a
place to park in the same county; so, thinking of my sister
Carole, the runner, we drove on, stopping to buy a few
more snacks for the road at the pasteleria (someone else's
photo) [Editorial afterthought: should "Italica" always be
italicized?]










 

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