Ostia Antica

On the 7th rainy day we've had in Rome we decided to take to the ruins again...this time at the old Roman port of Ostia Antica.

Here we are ready as always for whatever Mother Nature brought

On your way to the entrance to the old city of Ostia you must first pass through the necropolis, which is basically the cemetery. Regulations stated that such things needed to be built outside the city walls...and so they were.

complete with marble statues (which have now obviously seen better days)

After the fall of the Roman empire the city was no longer necessary (it was exclusively used for port facilities) and things simply began to decay. Luckily, much of the city's wonders are still semi-preserved (and thankfully some things have been reconstructed to stop further decay).

My favourite thing, of course, was the discovery of the theatre.





very cool to be standing in a real ancient Roman theatre.

Other fun discoveries (hard to narrow it down really) were this almost pristine fountain room, with floor to ceiling marble.

The cobble stones were large and clearly marked the roads throughout the city.

It was also really interesting to see how the current surroundings are intermingling with history. Those are the roots of a tree crawling their way through the walls. Understandable, since most of this city would have been covered with dirt/grass/trees over the last 1500 years.

We also found a public latrine. We found a very cool personal one in a very expensive home as well, but I really get a kick out of the shared expereince you'd get from a room like this. Notice how close the potty holes are to one another.

Almost completely preseved, is this restaurant. Notice the picture showing the customers what they would have been selling.

This is the stove

there was even a courtyard with marble floor mosaics and a fountain where people could have sat to enjoy their meal.

The bakery discovery was pretty good as well.

Here is Mat working in the mill. Grind, grind, grind.

It was an absolutely amazing day. I couldn't stop smiling at the wonders that were constantly appearing.

It even stopped raining and ended with a beautiful rainbow! Perfection.