Evening 4: Pula

After a long day trekking in the Brijuni islands which involved not having lunch until nearly 17:00, you might have thought we'd have chosen to stop in for the evening. Since that's what we do every evening you'd have normally been correct, but there was an exceptional situation tonight: gladiatorial combat at the amphitheatre, and so off we travelled.

Any second thoughts were vanquished the second we caught a glimpse of the amphitheatre by night:

We took our seats where the original spectators would've sat two millennia ago:

The master of ceremonies (speaking English, which came as a surprise) used a team of mimes to illustate his descriptions:

And then the trumpets blared as the emperor made his appearance:

We were treated to a performance by some fire jugglers:

Prior to the gladiatorial bouts two trainees were given a practice run using wooden weapons:

The result was inconclusive!

After the warm-up, the real gladiators were paraded:

And then battle commenced:

Followed by a battle between two other gladiators:

After a further bout, this time involving four fighters, we were treated to some more pyrotechnics:

And then the fighting resumed:

There was a clear winner in this battle:

And after the final bout the emperor refused mercy to the loser. His opponent had to dispatch him:

After which the games came to an end and we got to get a gladiator's-eye view from the arena floor:

That was a fabulous piece of entertainment and something that I'd love to do again!