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Fortifying the new cities

The Roman army conquered the land and while they did that they built forts. The forts were normally wooden. They were spread around the frontier. They also had walls around the cities. The wall was built of stone and rocks. This made it very solid as it was made in a special way. The walls were made to be wide enough for soldiers to walk along them. They also opened the doors to the city. They had to pull the gates of the city up to let the people get in. The cities had different types of buildings in them. They put roads on top of it so that the vehicles from the troops can move more easily.

Last century I went to Calpe in Spain for some holidays and here are a few images which I have only just decided to put online. These pictures were taken in 1997.

In Jerash, there are the remains of a Roman town and that is worth visiting. I went there during the Gulf War in 1991 and saw some huge warehouses built by the Romans to store grain and there is also an amphitheater which was shaped like an ear and I went there and it is built into a hill so that they did not need to build supports in order for it to stand. It is supposed to be so that you can hear the people at the centre of the amphitheater you will hear the person from anywhere in the seating so the acoustics were good.

Roman ruins in Damascus, Syria

Nyon is a town in Switzerland. It was founded by Roman troops over 2000 years ago, in 50-44 bC, after the wars in Gaul. It was named “colonia Iulia equestris”, after Julius Caesar. It’s older than its sister cities (Copia Felix Munatia Lugdunensis) Lyon and (colonia Raurica) which were founded in 44/43 bC by Munatius Plancus. These three cities were some of the last to be founded during the wars in Gaul for the soldiers or cavalry, giving them the name Equestris.

I have a strong desire to go hiking. I would like to go on a hiking excursion that lasts for a few days. In theory I could do the Via Alpina route one starting in Nyon and ending in Lichtenstein. It’s a 21 step hike going north.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RsTPWkKZKk

I had lunch watching one and a half episodes of this video series. They’re short, lasting just ten minutes each so easy to fill spare time with. As I’m trapped walking around in various circles around where I live it’s nice to see people walking in a straight line from one side of a country to the other.

We’re in day 29 of ORCA in Switzerland and I have an ever increasing desire to go for a hike. During today’s walk I listened to two podcasts about hiking and I walked yet another variant of my usual walk. Apple tree blooms are increasing in number and the Colza looks almost ready to harvest.

We’re also going into a dry summer. During this pandemic we have hardly had any rain for a month. The whole of Switzerland is either yellow, orange or red with the risk of fire. I’ve been walking outdoors with a t-shirt.

Today I went on a photo walk. Since walking far is now out of the question if you want to be consistently socially distanced it makes sense to go out with a different purpose. When the purpose of the walk is to take photos you can afford to walk up a hill, or between two people to avoid being too close.

A cat naps in a courtyard in the middle of the day during the 2020 Pandemic in Arnex-Sur-Nyon.

My shoes are wet and my socks are wet because today I tried river walking. If a child was to do the same it would be called immature and irrational but when an adult does it then it’s adventure, and trying something new.

My motivation to river walk came from the pandemic, or more precisely from how people behave during a pandemic. When I walked yesterday I had a runner pass right by me and then spit on the ground a few meters ahead of where I would have been going. When I walked through the woods yesterday I could hear groups of people so I avoided walking along the same routes.

It’s Day 26 and today I was playing with 360 video. Specifically I went for a walk in the woods and placed the camera ahead of me to provide people with the opportunity to look around. Doing this is a risky strategy during the pandemic because if you cross paths with anyone there is nowhere to avoid them. I quickly went back to open space and retreated for home. One runner passed too close.