On our last full day in Rome, we went to St. Paul outside the walls, Catacombs, and the Appian Way. St. Paul outside the walls was a church to St. Paul. It is believed to house the tomb of Paul. The first picture is of the dome in St. Paul's church. It had a lot of gold in the painting.
The Catacombs was a network of tunnels beneath Rome that the Christians used for burial and to escape persecution. We meet our guide in a old church. The church was underground. The only part that was above ground was the windows to let a little light in. On our tour through the tunnels we were able to see the graves. The bodies were buried on top of each other. Most of the bodies are gone due to people wanting to study them. However, the graves that were still intact were sealed with brick and then would have had a layer of marble on them. The marble had been removed. The graves lined the tunnels so as you were walking there were graves on both sides of you. I thought that this was really interesting. There were also little rooms off the main tunnel. I could imagine the Christains meeting in a place like that to worship. The second picture of an original painting along one of the walls. There was no outside lighting so the tunnels would have been very dark back in ancient times. There was electricity down there now so we could see well.
The last picture is of the Appian Way. The is the oldest road in Rome. We were able to walk a little on it but the road was pretty narrow and there wasn't a sidewalk. After this we decided to head back to dinner and then the hotel.
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