Ostia Antica

A Year Ago Today...

March 24, 2009

Itinerary:

Tuesday, 3/24 Rome (Charissa and Harmony)

-9:15 breakfast @ hotel (included in room price).

-24 hr. Rome Metro: €4,00

-11:00 Day Trip to Ostia Antica. €6,50.

-Outside of Rome, 14 mi by subway (about 1/2 hr). Roman ruins of port city.

-Continue on metro to Lido di Ostia(Known as the "Roman Rivierra"): touch the Mediterranean.

-Grocery Shopping for dinner €6,25.

-Rain downpour while going to Bocca della Verita.

-Get Gelato €4,20.

-Spanish Steps.

Lodging: Prime Hotel Saint John.

On our second day in Rome, we made a day trip to the nearby ancient city of Ostia Antica. It was a port city outside of Rome with lots of old ruins to explore.

It was fun to imagine how the Romans would have lived when you can still see the remains of their houses and public buildings.

We also found a way to integrate ourselves into the ancient decor.

We had lunch on the steps of the amphitheater.

And couldn't leave without putting on a little dramatic performance...

Harmony found she really fit in with the locals.

And I really enjoyed seeing the Mosaics. Can I get that in my house?

Harmony looking quite regal.

After running around Ostia Antica, we hopped back on the metro to go one stop further to the modern town of Lido di Ostia. Here we were able to see and touch the Mediterranean for the first time in our lives!

The day we visited was an overcast day, but in the summer it is a popular vacation point for many Italians.

Once back in Rome we decided to look for the Boca Della Verita but found that it is not accessible at night. Meanwhile we encountered our first and only downpour of rain while in Europe. We were really blessed with beautiful weather our whole trip and this quick storm definitely caught us by surprise. It was so sudden and raining so hard that all we could do was try and dodge the raindrops as we ran back to the metro with little yelps. The storm did not last long and we went on to see the Spanish Steps and enjoy our daily gelato. You can't really see the steps in the photo below, but at least you can see how happy we were with our gelato! The steps were beautiful at night and it was such a great place that we even returned the next day before our departure from Rome.