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 

a 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?]