row boats & the Temple of Aesclepius

Asclepius is the Greco-Roman god of medicine, a demigod son of Apollo, who was taught the art of healing by the Centaur, Chiron.

And nowadays, he has kick-ass temple on the water in the Villa Borghese gardens of Rome! This temple was built in the 1780's, in honor of the original temple of Aesclepius that once stood on the Island of Tiber in 293BCE. The statue of the god inside the current temple was moved here from the Augustus Mausoleum ruins.

I adore the statue of a woman with a vase that is spilling actual water back into the lake! it's so serene, and nearly hidden by the trees when you're looking at the temple straight on from the front.

I read about this site on Atlas Obscura, and it was one of my favorite places we went to in Rome! First of all, it was not crowded, so that's always a plus. It was also not expensive! The temple/lake was in a public park, free to walk around and admire the temple from the shore. However, for €4/person there are row boats available for rent! If I remember correctly, the charge was for 20 minutes of boat use, which was honestly the perfect amount of time to row around man-made lake.

Taking one of the boats out meant we were able to see the temple up close from all sides. Despite it being small in comparison to some of the other ancient landmarks, there was still so much detail and beauty in it's design - I could have looked at it for hours! Plus, while rowing around the lake we saw lots of fish, waterfowl, and even a few turtles!

Ancient mythologies, especially Greek & Roman mythology, have always been a special interest of mine (strongly fostered by the Percy Jackson series). Getting to see so many places related to ancient Roman culture was incredible. The temples and ruins are so so beautiful - I go absolutely nuts for anything with ionic columns! Being in a little boat out on a lake, rowing around a small temple in the early evening with the love of my life was just *chef's kiss* a lovely experience that is now a core memory for me.

Ben was happy to do the rowing which meant my hands were free to take lots of pictures! also if you have the chance to be rowed around a lake by your partner, take it ;)

Are there any sites/cities related to a significant interest of yours that you would like to visit someday? Or that you have visited? Tell me about it in a comment!

take care of yourself<3

~heather

if you're enjoying this blog and want to see more of what I do, scroll down to my ko-fi tip jar, or click the link to find my other online spaces!

heather's linktree