MAR-30: Civitavecchia, Italy

Civitavecchia is the seaport for Rome.  It is amusing to listen to non-Italians trying to pronounce it.

The weather on our arrival was cool, windy and cloudy with occasional drops of rain.  It was the first time since Singapore that I have worn a long-sleeved shirt during the day.

Tour Description:  Ostia Antica

Founded by King Anco Marzio around the 4th century BC, Ostia Antica was Rome’s main commercial port and military base, with a population at its peak of nearly 100,000 inhabitants. Barbarian invasions and malaria led to the decline of city and eventually all the inhabitants abandoned it. Buried for centuries by sand, the city is remarkably well preserved and, although less spectacular than Pompeii or Herculaneum, it gives a more complete picture of the life in the Roman Empire. Your visit starts at Via delle Tombe, which leads to the Porta Romana—one of the city’s three gates. This is the beginning of Decumanus Maximus, the main road through the town. From the Neptune and Amphitride Baths, walk to the theater built by Agrippa and to the Forum, which formed the center of the city. Discover the main public buildings—the Capitolium and the Temple of Rome and Augustus. There are no fewer than 18 temples dedicated to the Persian god Mithras as well as a Jewish Synagogue dating from the 1st century BC and a Christian basilica. See the House of Diana and the Termopolium, an ancient Roman bar with a marble counter and a fresco representing the fruits and foodstuffs that were sold there. After this fascinating stroll through the past, board on your coach and proceed to the seaside resort of Ostia Lido to enjoy a gelato (included).  At the end of your tour, you will transfer back to the ship.

Tour Experience

It was still raining when we boarded the bus, but the weather got somewhat better during the course of our tour before devolving again as we headed back to the ship.  

An hour after leaving Civitavecchia we arrived at Ostia Antica, an archeological site some experts believe as or more important than Pompeii.  They argue Pompeii simply gets better press because of the violent way its inhabitants died.

It was an interesting site well presented by our guide.  That said, trying to explain what a given ruin looked like back in the day would be like pouring some flour on a table and asking you to envision a loaf of bread.  If you are interested in the history of Ostia Antica, there is a good website.  For this post, I am limiting myself to pictures and a few notations. 

As you look at the pictures it is important to understand that these ruins were sophisticated buildings.  Some had four stories.  The walls, floors and ceilings were covered with sheets of marble or mosaics.  This was an advanced society.  Running water, sewers, theaters, bars and restaurants, shops, a commercial laundry and more were here.  At its apex, the population was estimated at about 100,000 people.

Mosaics covered entire walls of some buildings. To prevent further deterioration, some ruins receive a capof cement to protect them.  In Italy, ruins are not

restored, just preserved.

We visited a bar where urns were buried in the ground to keep wine cool.

At the end of our visit to Ostia Antica we bought a book that shows key ruins as they appear now with an overlay to show how the entire structure once looked.  We should have gotten it before we started the tour.

From Ostia Antica the bus took us a short distance to Lido di Ostia where we had a gelato in a town square that is hopefully a bit more vibrant when the weather is better.  Some of the buildings were interesting.  Vendors were setting up booths for Easter.   Their presence did not add to the ambiance of the square.  They looked forlorn, there being a conspicuous absence of potential buyers.  Even the lone panhandler working the square wasn’t having any luck.  The guide did not have trouble motivating us to return to the bus. 

Back on ROTTERDAM we had lunch and debated whether to go into Civitavecchia to explore some of it.  Our reference material did not suggest much of interest to see.  It was windy and chilly.  We opted not to go.  Good call – thirty minutes later the rain arrived.

This was our last port call in Italy.  ROTTERDAM will now angle southwest towards Spain.  We are setting our clocks ahead an hour tonight.  This is strange given that we have been setting them back ever since Singapore and since we are continuing west logic dictates that we would remain in the same time zone or be setting our clocks back an hour.  I will let you ponder why we are setting our clocks ahead while proceeding westward.