Fifteenth Day - Ostia Antica & Rome

October 4th, 2008

On the morning of our last full day of sightseeing, Melanie and I took the train from Rome out to the ruins of Ostia Antica, which is is just a 30 minute trip west. Ostia Antica was the sea port for ancient Rome, it was the spot where the ocean galleys off loaded their shipments of grain and wine and luxuries - these goods were then loaded onto barges and floated up the Tiber River to Rome. Ostia Antica was also a prime provider of salt to the empire, but the landscape was denuded of trees because they needed firewood to evaporate the sea water. Stripped of plant life, the nearby soil washed into the Tiber and silted up the mouth of the river. Later emperors directed that a new seaport be built on the coast because sand bars made landing at Ostia Antica too treacherous.

Ostia Antica reminded me a lot of the ruins of Pompeii. Both are large cities being excavated and restored, you can easily spend half a day wandering through all the old ruins and discovering artifacts and temples. However, Ostia Antica is much easier to reach than Pompeii!

While we were at Ostia Antica, it began to rain. We dunked into one of the old buildings that had a roof, and then we ran over to the museum that is on site. This small museum displays artifacts and sculptures uncovered in the ruins, however, they do not let you take photographs inside, so I don't have any pictures here.

There are some signs posted around Ostia Antica in English and Italian, which is how I identified most of the buildings in my pictures. I also found that this was a useful website

After our visit to Ostia Antica, we returned to Rome. We decide to do a walk along the Western side of the city, to see what wonders we would encounter. Rome is so full of history that almost any direction that you walk in, you will encounter some marvel from antiquity. We ended up seeing some fountains and memorials, plus we crossed over the Tiber River to a small island that once was a site of healing. At the end of our walk we were near the Vatican gates, which were close to our apartment. We had walked home.

That evening Rose, Mom and I went to a nearby restaurant and talked about all the adventures we had enjoyed. Our trip to Italy had turned out to be a fantastic adventure with a lifetime of memories. I am so glad that we went.

Early the next morning we went back to the Vatican for a few final farewell photographs. You can never have too many pictures! Then we took the train to the airport and flew home. Such a great trip!