Un Viaggio in Passato

Today we took a journey into the past, but, man, it took a long time to get there.

Stephen woke me with the news that our landlady (in Vietnam) had emailed to say that the rent hadn't been paid. This was annoying because I spent a lot of effort into trying to set up automatic payments for the next couple of months so that we wouldn't have to worry about it while we were away. But apparently I didn't put enough effort into it. I could do the payment from here by internet banking, but the security system required me to receive a code number by SMS onto my VNese SIM card, which was now safely taped away inside a suitcase, because the phone has an Italian SIM card instead. And it's really hard to change the card on my model of phone, so after breakfast we went back again to the Vodafone kiosk nearby to ask for help. The girl there was great: she swapped the cards over, and we were able to do the banking over a coffee at a shop next door. Then we went back to Vodafone to swap the SIM card back again, then came back to the B & B to drop off the laptop and pick up the day's luggage and stuff, and finally we were off.

Side street, Ostia Antica

We were making for a place called Ostia Antica, which I'd never heard of till Stephen saw it in the guide book and suggested a visit. It's an archaeological site of the remains of a town that used to be Rome's port. It's a half hour train trip out of the city, and it seemed reasonably straightforward to get there, with several alternative routes. It was just a question of how and where to join up with the train. Aha! You think that's easy? It's not so easy. We started from the nearest bus stop, which would mean one bus trip to the final train; but after waiting for quite some time after the bus was due (and the next one), we gave up and decided to start walking towards a nearby train station, and use that travel option instead. It required two changes of transport, but we could handle it. Of course, the first bus passed us as we were walking between bus-stops. But we took our first Roman subway trip, and it was okay. At the end we emerged to look for the next bus, but after some confusion, we found that our next bus was actually a train, and we hadn't needed to emerge at all, just change platforms. It was 30 minutes to the next train now - I don't know how much we'd missed the last one by. But finally we got the right train to the right place, and we got to Ostia Antica at a bit after 12.

Maybe shop fronts? Somewhat reconstructed.

Every other day we've had lunch at around 2pm or later, but today we decided to have lunch (if possible) before we started, and luckily there was a restaurant at the entrance to the site. We were leaving there at 1pm exactly, refreshed, rested and relaxed, ready to start the day's sightseeing.

Ostia is a huge area of ruins: ruins of houses, temples, shops, government offices, a theatre, a forum... it was called "Rome's Little Pompeii" somewhere in the readings I read today. The main street must have been over a mile, with both sides lined with what used to be shops and arcades, taverns and all sorts of other buildings necessary in a bustling port town. You could wander down the side streets, and even go through the ruins quite freely. There was a lot of mosaic flooring still in situ, and a few walls still had paintings visible. It was much easier to imagine the lives of people 2000 years ago here, than in the Colosseum yesterday.

Again, the fragrance of grasses and herbs was amazing

We spent about 2 1/2 hours there, then managed to get home without (much) incident (the few small mistakes we made - which side of the road to catch the bus on, how to read the bus stop information - didn't actually cost us any time. This time.) We were back at the B & B at around 5, and were able to rest until 6.

The plan for this evening was to go back into town, and take some night photos of the Colosseum.  We'd have dinner somewhere near there to use up the time until it was properly dark. As it turned out, using up the time was not an issue because - this may have been a bad idea - we decided to go by bus. It was a different bus from the one this morning, but once again, we were at the bus stop, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting... Stephen suggested giving up and walking, but you just know that as soon as you start to walk, the bus will come. Finally, after waiting as long as three buses should have taken, two #85s arrived together. Both were already full, though, so after all the other waiting passengers had got on, we decided to go with the walking plan. And that way we could choose anywhere along the way to have dinner at.

It was only about a 15-20 minute walk, although it was a bit uphill sometimes, and the footpaths are narrow, and we were stuck behind some very slow walkers. But we saw a restaurant that looked okay, and even though it was a bit expensive, we had a bit of a splurge. All the menus we've seen so far have antipasto (appetisers) then prima and secondi. The prima (primo? Maybe. Can't remember) are always pasta dishes, and the secondi are other things like steak or fish or seafood. (Pizza gets its own section.) So far we've always ordered from the prima, and it's been plenty. I don't know if it's normal to have prima first and then secondi, but I don't see how anyone could eat that much. Anyway, we splurged, but the meal was pretty ordinary. Fancy-looking, but boring-tasting.

We left and continued walking, a few more blocks and turn left and turn right, and finally we saw the Colosseum at the end of the road. There were a few other people with the same idea, but it wasn't crowded. The main problem as far as photos were concerned was the bright lighting for the construction work that was going on in the grounds surrounding it. Most inconsiderate.

After we walked around about half the circumference, we found a place where we could finish off our meal with some dessert. Then a taxi took us quite a long way home, and now here we are, all up to date.