Roman Empire Sand Sculptures at Brighton - June 2006
We went to view the enthralling Roman Sand Sculptures
near Brighton Marina, travelling there via the historic little seafront
Volks Electric Railway and lunching in a lovely marina
restaurant. This visiting of sand sculptures is becoming an
annual event for us - we explored the Egyptian Sand Sculptures
the previous year.
|
|
The Volks Electric Railway trundles along Brighton seafront for just
over a mile between the pier and the marina. Opened in 1883, it
carries a quarter million passengers a year, including us, and on
arrival...
|
...at Brighton Marina we admired these luxury yachts. However,
the marina complex did create an impression of everything tightly
squeezed in a claustrophobic concrete jungle with little design flare.
|
|
We lunched in one of the many fine restaurants at the marina and
enjoyed a scrumptious Italian meal in the place seen here on the right.
|
The sand sculptures were themed on the Roman Empire and, unlike the
previous year, were under cover rather than out in the open (except for
these few).
|
|
The Roman sand sculptures were huge - just compare the size here to
Mike! This guy must have been someone important in the Roman
Empire.
|
Once inside, the first sand sculpture to greet us was Augustus, the
first and most important of the Roman Emperors. Well, Augustus
certainly looked daunting.
|
|
We took loads of photos of the sculptures; this one depicts
Trajan's Column and the foreground illustrates the very efficient Roman
aqueduct system. Now,...
|
...the Roman Empire ruled two thousand years ago and was a varied one
of a strong, powerful and civilised society and sometimes a violent and
greedy one. This sand sculpture illustrated a Roman army on the
march, now we wouldn't want to come across this lot on a dark night
after a few beers!
|
|
This very detailed sand sculpture was an illustration of Hannibal
marching an army over the Pyrenees bringing war elephants into northern
Italy. See our tourist
resources for more on sand sculptures.
|
The Romans also famously indulged in numerous orgies and there were a
number of sand sculptures to illustrate this other aspect of Roman
life. Yes your bum does look big in all that sand!
|
|
Now the famous Roman Baths sculptured in sand. The Romans had a
number of baths - cold, warm and hot - which they believed could
cure ailments, plus they also doubled-up as a social gathering point
(like the pub?) Look carefully and you might spot a rather shy
Roman guy in the background!
|
We weren't sure if this was another orgy or it depicted the violent
side of the Roman Empire! Oo-er!
|
|
Who's the scariest guy here, Mike or the Roman sand sculpture?
Once again we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to see the awesome sand
sculptures at Brighton. Right, back on the Volks Railway, but
first...
|
...on the way out we stopped by the sculptures café and wished we
hadn't - the tea was like dishwater! And there wasn't a sand
sculpture gift shop like last year - OMG, what's Belinda gonna do now?
|
