Rome Travel Answers

Ostia Antica is on the Rome -Lido railway, which is actually operated more or less as part of the Metro. Take the metro to Piramides, walk over to Porta San Paolo and take the train there. Your metro ticket is valid on these trains too.

Yes, it's a very easy journey. Metro to Piramide, then to the adjoinng Porta San Paolo station. If you have a BIT (Rome public transport tousit ticket) it will cover the journey to Ostia Scavi. If not, just buy your ticket from the machines at the station (remember to validate). Get off at Ostia Scavi station (about 30 mins from Rome) and walk up the road for about 5 mins to get to the site. It's well-signed. Allow yourself a minimum of 2 hours to explore, and preferably much more; it's a fascinating and very large site which is in exceptionally good condition. Website here: http://www.ostia-antica.org/ My pages here: Visit Ostia if you possibly can! - Ostia Antica, Italy I intended to re-visit last August, but decided on Orvieto instead. Will re-visit Ostia next time.

I was thinking half a day but am interested in Orvieto so can you tell me about it please

Orvieto is very lovely, but half a day would really be too short to visit. You need a full day, not least because the journey there will take you just over an hour from Termini (and then you have to get the funicular or bus up to Orvieto itself). My Orvieto page tells you what you can see/do etc: "Escaping the heat....sort of..." - Orvieto by leics The same applies to Tivoli. Fascinating in itself (Villa d'Este, Villa Adriana, Villa Gregoriana) but too far and with too much to explore for a half-day visit. If you are stuck on half a day I suggest you take bus 118 from the little bus station opposite San Giovanni in Laterano (worth a visit in itself) and visit the catacombs of San Sebastiano: http://www.catacombe.org/uk_index.html then walk some of the Via Appia Antica. It's lined with ancient Roman structures and is largely traffic-free once you get past the little cafe (excellent cakes). Lots of info about the Parco Appia Antica here: parcoappiaantica.it/en/defau...

Sorry I ment half day at Ostia Antica but will source your other advised sites!!!

O well..if you are thinking half a day at Ostia then yes, with an early start you'll get to see a fair bit of it (though by no means all). As I said, my Ostia pages have info. It's rather like a mini-Pompeii without the crowds (although you may come across a school party or two).

I loved visiting Ostia Antica. I would suggest you take a little picnic with you for there wasn't much in the way of catering except a small cafe just outside the station. There were some restaurants but they were closed (it was end October then). Anyway, it's delightful to munch on something amidst ancient stones and pretend you're way back in time!

I do that a lot when traveling and last year an evening picnic with the manditory Moet and my family by my side watched the Eiffel Tower light up

It's interesting...I would have given the same directions, but when I queried the ATAC website (the public transit system), it said to take Metro B to the EUR Magliana stop (several stops beyond the Piramide stop), then pick up the Roma-Lido surface train there. I guess that their thinking is that the subway is faster, so take it as far as you can before getting off for the slower train. (After this point, the subway turns east to go over to EUR). Or maybe it has something to do with my departure time of 8:02 a.m. (picked at random). But I am not going to bother with trying out different times...you can try if you want at www.atac.roma.it . Oh, while I'm looking, please note that "Porta San Paolo" refers to the surface train station near the Piramide Metro stop...there IS a Basilica San Paolo stop on the SAME Metro line (two stops further on), but that's not what K_V_B and leics mean. Rome is not trying to confuse you...San Paolo Fuori Le Mura is one of the four major basilicas, and as its name implies, it is outside the city walls...and Porta San Paolo is the city "gate" facing the basilica (it's actually more than a kilometer away, down the Via Ostiense)... Bill