Roman Ruins & The Trajan Bridge
We opted NOT to take the 12 hour excursion this morning - including a three hour bus ride there and back and instead walked around the Roman Ruins in Drobeta. I taught World History and spent quite a lot of time on the Roman Empire but I did not know about the very important Trajan Bridge - named for the emperor at the time, Trajan . It was built across the Danube in 103-105 AD and allowed the expansion of the Roman Empire into what is now Romania. We walked off the ship and climbed 61 steps to cross a land bridge onto the Roman ruins. Just down the shore was where the Roman solidiers defended the bridge and right across from our ship was an amphitheater that was used for the typical Roman entertainment, including gladiator fights. Just beyond that was a training area and then the most interesting ruins were the Roman bath ruins. We saw the ruins for what was essentially a locker room, then where the workers heated the water. Then three main bath areas - one where it was very warm where you'd start out to adjust your body to the heat, then the adjoining room where it was REALLY hot and then the cold water room which was the final phase of the process. Then we walked over to the small museum the most interesting part of which was the bridge area - the model bridge really put into perspective how large this procedure was. Then there was an animated film (see below - less than a minute) of how it was built....just fascinating! And after we walked outside there was an animated screen that made it appear as though the bridge was still there across the river....and the ruins of the bridge were still there on the shore line. An interesting morning - and this was NOT an original stop or excursion but we began here because of the water level. We're not sure where we will be tomorrow - we find out tonight, then for the following three days were mostly back on schedule.
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