Saturday morning, the mark of the end of our first week in Rome. But it wasn’t quite time to rest just yet, because at 9:30 that morning, we were supposed to meet by the UW Rome Center to make a trip to Ostia Antica.
I finish washing up and putting on my contacts. I still need to get dressed and buy four bus tickets at the local Tabbachi store.
I look at my watch… 9:20. Crap.
I quickly stuff some extra clothes and towels in my bag, remembering that we were planning on visiting the beach after our tour around Ostia Antica. I grab my camera and head downstairs.
I rush to the nearest Tabbachi store. “No biglietti!” Great, though I should have known earlier since apparently it is common for a Tabbachi store to run out of bus tickets. I see a few others caught in the same dilemma and we head over to the other Tabacchi store across the Campo dei Fiori. Finally, we rush back to the UW Rome Center, luckily finding Lisa and the others still waiting for the last few stragglers.
We walk to the bus stop and hitch a Route 23 bus down along the Tiber River. A ten minute ride quickly takes us to the train station. There, we catch a train that zooms us away to Ostia Antica. Peering out the window, we watch Rome as it disappears into the thick countryside grass. In 30 minutes, we find ourselves stepping out of the train and into an entirely new place.
Ostia Antica used to be a major seaport and marketplace for ancient Rome. “Ostia” is Latin for “mouth,” which makes sense since Ostia Antica marks the joint between the Tiber River and the sea. Found in 335 B.C., Ostia may have been the first colony of Rome. Aside from being a great seaport, Ostia was also a large extraction zone for salt. However, around the time of Constantine, the city of Ostia began to decline. Today, we may only see the remains of what is left of the city, though most of the city is still extremely well preserved.
The statues are "extremely well preserved."
As we enter the gates of Ostia Antica, we are surprised to notice that the sea is nowhere in sight. However, we quickly learn that due to ecological changes, Ostia Antica now sits more than a mile away from the sea. Judging from all the walls in the area, we could see that Ostia Antica used to be a highly fortified city.
After walking ahead a little, we stop by a large bath complex. We climb up the stairs, finding ourselves standing above the entire complex. To the East, we see rooms that used to be occupied with thermal rooms, both cold and hot. The floors are still intricately decorated with beautiful mosaics of Roman and Greek gods such as Amphitrite and Neptune. However, the basins and marble originally equipped in each room have long disappeared.
We continue our trek ahead and spot something monumental ahead of us. Peering into the distance, we identify a huge amphitheater. Excitedly, we hurry to the amphitheater, yet only to find that it is closed off due to a concert set up. Luckily, however, one of us spots some stairs towards the back of the amphitheater, and we were able to enter through there.
The amphitheater is enormous, allowing more than 2,000 people to sit at once! We take a short break there and take a few interesting pictures.
After exploring the outdoors, we begin to head into the rooms. The rooms are spacious and intelligently designed. Depending on the material used and the angle that the sun shines through the windows, the rooms were either hot or cold.
As we pass by the rooms, we notice a peculiar room that is different from the rest of the rooms. The room is mostly empty, except for long slabs of stones protruding from the walls. The holes in the stone, however, give it away: the room, it turns out, is a “latrinae,” or a bathroom!
Guys posing at the "latrinae."
Finally, we stop by an open field to eat our packed lunch. But wait! Guess what I forgot to bring? So, several others and I head over to the nearby cafeteria to pick up some food.
Next stop… the beach!
The train takes us to the beach in just a few minutes since it is so close to Ostia Antica. At the beach, we find a nice spot to lay down our towels. Most of us quickly change, run across the burning sand and splash into the cool Mediterranean Sea. There was nothing better than to cool off from a long, hot day.
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