Well, we have come a full circle now and we are back at Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, Italy! As we have already been and done Rome, we decided to take a different Excursion today – to Ostia Antica which is south of Rome and Civitavecchia and like other villages we have visited such as Pompei, Olympia and the Roman Ruins, is a large archeological site. It is close to the town of Ostia, and it was the harbour city of Ancient Rome. “Ostia” (plur. of “ostium”) is a derivation of “os”, the Latin word for “mouth” . At the mouth of the Tiber River, Ostia was Rome’s seaport, but due to silting, it now lies 3 kilometres from the sea. The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings, frescoes and mosaics. So, after visiting the 3 ruins listed above, when we went to the bus to transport us to the site, the tour guide told me that my walker was inappropriate to take into the grounds. Not surprising me after some of the things I have already gone through on this trip, I was luckily the HAL Excursions Manager heard what was said to me, and after I said to the guide that it is required for me to walk and please put it under the bus, the HAL manager followed up with the guide that it was okay, I will not slow the tour down (which was the REAL issue) and things like that cannot be said to guests of HAL. So off we went! I had a nap on the bus, so this begins when we got to Ostia Antica. Again, it was a HOT day, hovering around 29 degrees with no wind or breeze or puffs of air to speak of. In some ways, this site was not as impressive as Pompei, which showed more housing and historical items of where people worked, cooked, gathered etc. or Olympia with the huge structures – columns etc. but this site was very well laid out and well preserved. Overall, each site brings memories to mind as to how people lived. At the start it was more of how people were buried and then we progressed to where people stayed, the baths and finally to the theatre, which is used to this day for small events. The thing to remember about Ostia Antica is it was a meeting point – people would travel there to stay and trade with the merchants that came by sea. It was not really a “town” with a lot of permeant residents like other places we have been – other than those to support the infrastructure of the town. As this was only a 4.5 hour tour and we left early, we were back by 2pm! For me, spending 2 hours in the direct sun is enough! I enjoyed the bus ride back and took some pictures of that area of Italy. Andrew funny enough fell asleep! Then I had the brilliant idea of taking the shuttle into Civiavecchia to get a shirt – I still wanted to get a shirt from Italy. Well, we did it and walked A LOT as the shuttle service was a bit strange. It took you out of the secure zone, which is good however where you could enter the city (at least for me) was about 2/3’s of the way along the shuttle route! So one had to walk back and then up some long wide stairs to get into the city. Once there it was not really the “tourist” section other than McDonalds down and around the block – where we did not go! Happily it was fairly accessible – parking spots and ramps at the streets however just restaurants and regular stores – nothing selling t-shirts or fridge magnets – my other quest! We sat ina square where kids played pick up soccer while I had a drink and we then walked back to the shuttle area and came back to the ship and enjoyed the sail away from the balcony of our room!
