Ostia Antica

Because we had no classes today, a bunch of my friends and I decided to visit the ancient Roman port town of Ostia Antica. First, however, we had to get there. All tickets for public transportation (such as the bus, the metro, and the local train service), can be purchased at local Tabacchi stores, which are sort of like drugstores in the United States. When you buy a ticket, you can use it on any combination of public transport to complete your travel, such as a metro and then a train, or a bus and then a metro. A one-way ticket only costs one Euro, as long as your entire trip is taken under 75 minutes. Unfortunately, the metro doesn't run anywhere close to the old city (where we live) because there are so many ancient ruins under the city that it's virtually impossible to dig a metro line. Thus, we walked 25 minutes to the Colosseum, took a 5 minute metro ride from the Colosseum to the Piramide stop (there is actually a giant pyramid there from the 18 BC- photo), and then transferred to a train, which we rode for about 30 minutes and got off at the Ostia Antica stop. This whole trip only cost one Euro (each way). From the train station, it is only a 5 minute walk to the Ostia Antica archaeological site.

The archaeological site incorporates the whole area of the ancient town, which was originally placed on the water, but after 2,000 years of silt buildup is now 1 mile from the ocean. The ruins are neat because they detail an entire working city, including residences, tenement apartments, an ancient grist mill, a theater, and a market district, among other things. Below are some of the pictures that I took while touring the site.After leaving the archaeological site, we walked around the small town of Ostia for a little while. The town is full of bed and breakfasts and small, interesting streets. It even includes a castle!