Rome - December 29, 2011 - Baths of Trajan

Arch from Baths of
Trajan

From the Church of Santi Silvestro (AKA San Martini ai Monti) we walked a little south. Even knowing we had our train tickets in hand, I was still freaked out because I don’t like to be late for anything, and missing a train just seems like a mini-disaster to me.

Then we found a park where a few people were walking dogs and then I saw it. Rising up out of the shrubbery like a mottled aged phoenix, that baths of Trajan...I really never thought I would see this magnificent ruin, but thanks to Mike’s wanderlust and ability to spot something shiny at 10,000 paces I did.

The detail in the brickwork brought to mind the Pantheon and Santa Maria degli Angeli e di Martini, which sort of gives an impression of what each of these excedras would have been like back in their prime. 

Excedra with niches and coffered ceiling, baths of Trajan