Ossies in Ostia Antica

Neptune mosaic at Ostia

After a great night's sleep in our little hotel La Scaletta in Lido di Ostia we awoke ready to start exploring. We had our first taste of Roman antiquities as we ventured to Ostia Antica on the train.
Apart from wet weather everything went according to plan - to the train station, navigate Italian signage, guess the direction of the ruins from the station and organise the Roma pass.

The ruins behind the Neptune mosaic

On venturing into Ostia Antica - the ancient Roman sea port on the Tiber River we 'happened' across Giancarlo - or rather he happened across us and offered to be our guide of course for a price. A little dubiously we agreed with his English only a little better than our Italian (I exaggerate there - his English was much better than our Italian, but of course that is not hard). We did think that it was a 'con' before we agreed, however he explained and showed us many things which otherwise we would not have realised or understood. All in all well worth the money and if it means he has a couple of vinos tonight then good on him.

Theatre masks on columns Ostia

The photo to the left was of theatre masks behind the theatre at Ostia Antica while the one to the right is on the 'stage' area looking to the stands. When you stood at the 'sweet spot' in the theatre and spoke it was quite amazing. Even whispering the sound amplified and came back to you. Clever people those Ancient Romans - worked out the Maths to make the voice heard without electronic amplifiers and also gave us toilets, aquaducts and better roads than we can manage to make in Queensland today. Shame the modern Romans haven't managed to keep up the road making skills - the roads around Ostia and Rome have more potholes than normal parts of the road.
We then travelled into Rome itself and managed to find our apartment and met Vincenzo who doesn't speak English but we sorted things out. Tomorrow we hope for finer weather as we walk around the sights of Rome.