This was a most unexpected highlight of our recent trip to Rome. We stayed in the town after a few nights in Rome so we could see the archeological park and then transfer to the nearby airport.

Some background on Ostia: This was the founded in the 7th century BC and by the time of Julius Caesar was the main port of Rome, dealing with the grain imports that kept the plebs fed and moderately happy. It was a large city with a theatre, temples, walls and warehouses. A canal was dug to enable large barges to reach the city and things continued like that for a few hundred years until the port silted up. The town then became a holiday residence for the aristocracy and slowly declined as the empire faded. After repeated raids by Arab slavers (you won't hear about them on a BLM march!) the city was abandoned and became a quarry for Rome.

When we arrived we were the only visitors there and we walked through the necropolis in total peace. The sheer size of the place and the number of buildings was a bit of a shock to me. I'm used to visiting sites that are basically just a foundation level of stone or bricks but a lot of the walls were intact at Ostia, some to the height of several storeys. There were lots of ornate sarcophogi and also family vaults for storing remains.

Some buildings had been partially restored which was fantastic as it gave you a chance to experience what they were actually like. The temples and theatre were particularly magnificent and the theatre is apparently still in use today. We continued walking to the Capitoline building which is another impressive edifice and also saw a Mithraeum. The cult of Mithras was a competitor to Christianity for a while in ancient Rome and there were several mithraeums in the city.

We climbed to the top of the castrum to get an idea of the size. Apparently only about 25% of the city has been excavated, mostly the central public buildings with the residential areas remaining buried, for now. We were now getting a bit jaded and we'd seen around two thirds of what has been excavated so we sat and had a coffee and cake before making our way back past the forum and fire station, via a display of the better preserved sarcophagi. We had spent about three hours in the ruins which was twice as long as the Colosseum and far more interesting. Somewhere to return to, preferably when it is warmer so the mosaics are uncovered.