Trip Idea: The Roman Empire

After visiting the Roman ruins of Volubilis in Morocco, I thought occurred to me that there are likely a slew of great Roman ruins to visit everywhere the ancient Romans set up shop. There would be many places where the centuries of intervening history will have written over all traces of the Romans, but there are still enough great locations to make for an amazing tour of the once great empire.

Note: this is not an accurate route map.

Logically a tour of the Roman Empire should start in Rome, but that’s not at all efficient as the empire fanned out in all directions from there. So I would start where the idea came to me, which conveniently enough is one of the furthest flung Roman outposts.

From Volubilis I would travel north, into Roman Hispania (Spain). The ruins at Segovia, Italica, and Tarragona would be must visit locales for this leg of the trip, but like everywhere else, there are many more Roman ruins to discover throughout the country. When satisfied with Spain, it’s north to Gaul (France), Nimes and nearby Pont du Gard in particular. Jumping over the channel, I’d have to swing by Bath and visit Hadrian’s Wall before heading back to the continent.

Back on the continent, it’s well worth heading to Augusta Raurica in Switzerland and Trier in Germany is important hub of the transition from Roman Empire to Holy Roman Empire. But the real joy of this leg of the trip is heading down the Mediterranean Coast of Italy. When you finally manage to drag yourself away from Rome, Ostia, and Pompeii it’s back to North Africa to visit Carthage (Tunis and Tunisia).

I’d turn right around from there and head back through Italy stopping by any places I might have missed, like Aquileia in the North East. Then I’d swing south into the Balkans where Roman history is often clouded by the Greek history that came before it. Still, visiting Pella and Athens is a must do.

The trip comes to a close cruising through Byzantium (Constantinople… er … Istanbul) and the rest of what would become the Byzantium Empire including Ephesus and modern-day Israel. The trips ends where the road ended for Antony and Cleopatra, in Alexandria.

Phew, that’s one heck of a trip, and I didn’t even begin to touch on all the sites one should really visit for a comprehensive tour. I would give myself at least 5 months to complete this adventure through history, and though I like going solo, I think this would be a great trip to share with someone who is obsesed with history.