Day 11: Train to Ostia and Ostia Antica

Today we woke up, packed up, and left our Air Bnb in Florence. Despite being on a kind of noisy road I slept well the past two nights, although for not quite as long as I would have liked. I think walking 10+ miles a day makes it easier to sleep well. On the walk to the train station we stopped by a tabacchia, which is like a minimart and bought a stamp. Edon picked up a Christmas card yesterday at the Christmas market and spent yesterday evening writing a note to his favorite podcast, Hello Internet. We mailed it at a post office we found and all hope it makes it to the UK before Christmas. If it does, they might read his letter on the podcast.

Our train was running a few minutes late, so I started writing yesterday’s blog post. I continued writing on the train back to Rome while ridiculously beautiful snow-dusted mountains and Italian countryside passed by outside.

From Tiburtina station we made our way to the metro station underground. While we got our money’s worth with the Firenze card, we definitely could have saved money by buying the kids single metro tickets when we were in Rome rather than the 72 hour metro card. It is just 1.50 euro for a 100 minute ticket, but 18 euro for the 72 hour pass. 

From Tiburtina we got off the metro at Piramide. With the same ticket we got on the Ostia Lido train just upstairs. It is actually really cheap for Romans to get to the beach. A single 1.50 euro ticket takes you all the way there. 

Once in Ostia we dropped our bags off at our Air Bnb and got a ride from the Ai Bnb owner’s son to the ancient Roman archeological site of Ostia Antica. If you can’t make it to Pompeii, Ostia Antica is supposed to be the next best thing. It is a Roman town that was abandoned, buried in river silt, and therefore left largely in tact. It was excavated in the last couple of hundred years.

I am so glad we got to visit this amazingly preserved place. The kids ran around and had a blast. 

After Ostia Antica we took a sunset walk back to our Air Bnb. 

We had the best and cheapest pizza we have had here for dinner from a local place. I guess this is why people who visit small towns complain when going to the cities where the food is more expensive and less good. Honestly, all of the food was good though!

Then, we need to try to get to bed super early. The Air bnb host’s son will drive us to the airport around 4:30 am for our 7:25am flight. We have a 5 hour layover in Gatwick Airport. Then, a 9ish hour flight to Orlando. We pick up a rental car there and have a 2 hour drive home. We should get there about 10pm Florida time (or 4am Rome time). Planes, trains, and automobiles but not necessarily in that order. See you all soon!