Ostia Antica

We arrived in Civitavecchia on Tuesday, in the middle of a major thunderstorm… it was not looking promising for sightseeing.  But, by the time we boarded our bus, the sun was peeking through.  We met up with new friends from Novato (a retired chief and VA nurse) and headed south towards Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, crossed the Tiber River and entered the archeological district of Ostia Antica… the ancient port of Rome.

You first walk through the necropolis, because Roman law would not allow people to be buried inside the city walls.  Amid the graves we saw partial mosaics… they turned out to be only a hint of what was to come.  Our first stop was at the Neptune Baths.  The site has some observation platforms that allow you to get up and look down into some of the buildings.  The views were amazing.

Neptune

Ostia has an amphitheater that is used by locals for concerts and plays during the summer.

Ron & I check the B&B

One building was billed as a Roman B&B… 

so of course we had to check that out.  Their kitchen was particularly nice...

The commercial forum showed the remains of shops… 

all of which had mosaic “signs” out in front.

Out in front of the center’s workshops they had piles of marble… since this was a major seaport they imported colored marbles from throughout the Med.  As we are walking by, Scott remarked, “Hey, this is the Roman version of Home Depot!”