Tony

We will be staying at the Crowne Plaza (west of the river). Would
appreciate specifics on taking the train to Ostia Antica.
Thanks

B Vaughan

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 13:51:03 GMT, "Tony" <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >We will be staying at the Crowne Plaza (west of the river). Would
    >appreciate specifics on taking the train to Ostia Antica.

You first take the metro to Piramide. Then you get a local train to
Ostia. The last time I took it, the local train left from right across
the track. You get off the train at the stop called Ostia Antica, or
Ostia Scavi. (I've seen it called both.) There is also an Ostia Lido,
but you don't want that stop. There is a schematic itinerary in the
train carriage. Watch the stops as you go along so you know when to
get off, as they don't always announce them.

When you get off the train, you have to take a pedestrain passageway
over the adjacent highway and keep on walking until you get to the
archeological site. It's a short distance, and fairly well marked.

I suggest you buy a guide book to the site with a detailed map. The
site is a bit confusing and not terribly well sign posted. You should
get this guide in Rome before setting out, as the museum/ book shop at
Ostia Antica is a good distance from the entrance.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

Poetic Justice

Tony wrote:
    >Would appreciate specifics on taking the
    >train to Ostia Antica.

This is a past post of mine. Regards, Walter

This trip requires 1 easy change of trains, from the metro to a commuter
train. You can get there and back (R/T) with either 2 Rome Metro/bus
tickets (1e each & valid for 75minutes), a 1 Metro/bus Daypass (4e), a
3-day pass (11e-if they still sell them?) or a Weekly pass (16e).
*
*So the *exact* same ticket you used to board the metro (or bus) is
also valid on the Ferrovia Rome-Lido commuter train to Ostia Antica.
**It took me ~50min from the Termini metro stop to Ostia Antica's
train station and then a 5-10 minute walk to the site.
Take Metro Line "B" towards "Laurentina" and get off at the "Piramide"
stop (4 stops from Termini). It's a small station, the Metro stop is
outside and below streetlevel and the Lido trains are unseen but
parallel to the metro tracks at street level. **
Exit the metro car and turn left and you will see escalator/stairs and
a sign "Ferrovia Roma-Lido".
**Top of stairs, turn left (crossing over the metro tracks) and you
will see 6 platforms. *All* of these trains go Lido and stop at Ostia
Antica but not all are used during the off-peak non-rush hours. *An
electronic signboard at the head of the platform will show which train
is leaving next and at what time (If they are all blank don't worry, one
of them will light-up ~10min before departure. **Also it will be the
only train/platform that the locals are using.

There is a w.c. in the station and on Platform 6. If you have time step
*right* outside the station and see the Pyramid of Cestius c.18-12BC and
the Ostia Gate & walls AD 271-5 with a small museum or visit the
Protestant Cemetery nearby (resting place of Keats & Shelley-well his
heart is buried there:).
Also the snackbar in front of the station has some cheap decent food.

*Board the train and to ease your mind look above the door at the
train station map. Ostia Antica is the 6th stop and takes ~25min.
At the Ostia Antica stop when you 1st get off the train, just across
the tracks will be the small station just to the left is a w.c.
~20M in front of the station is a blue pedestrian overpass that you
want to take.
**Exit the station and walk over the highway on that ped walkway and
then just go *straight*, after a couple of hundred meters or so you
cross a 2 lane road and the parking lot for the site is 50m in front of
you. In the parking lot the ticket booth, entrance and w.c. is 50m to
the left. *
*Tickets are 4e and I suggest getting the audio guide (4e with picture
ID or possibly CC for security). Also have on hand (the Blue Guide Rome
is good) or buy a guidebook-map of the site (available at ticket booth &
museum).
Don't forget to visit the museum (w.c.) and the very historic Synagogue
(alittle off the beaten track) on the site.
*Also* be sure to bring water or even better pack a small picnic lunch
and have a quiet picnic it any of the hundreds of secluded out of the
way spots. There is also a restaurant at the museum. *

*After the audio guide tour is over be certain to visit the western
end of the site. You can walk around so alone among the maze-like
buildings and paths and make amazing discoveries on your own. *
*I like the area in the V section of Decumanus Maximus and Via Della
Foce. Look for a 2 storey building that you can climb on top of in this
area (good view) but also that particular area has some excellent areas
to explore and find mosaics, frescos and some pretty cool rooms. *
One overlooked really cool site is under the Baths of Mithras where the
"Mithras and the Bull" statue was found, now in the museum but replaced
by a copy. On the main road thru the site (Decumaus Maximus) ~75m west
of the Capitolium/Forum area, you come upon a main intersection. There
is a road (90deg) to your left & right and the main road goes straight
but at a slight left angle, at a 45deg angle to your right there is a
road/path, take it. You will see on the right 2 red tile covered
protected sites followed by 5 trees in a row, take a right after the 5th
tree, you will come upon the Baths on your right (it's the last ruin, 2
columns and a taller lone column with a capital on top. Now see the
short (3 sections, 1m high) modern cast iron fence (NW corner of the
Baths) below that is the entrance to under the baths and statue. If you
walk past the statue there is a maze-like tunnel that takes you under
the baths, and you can see how they operated.



..And Paradise Was Lost...like teardrops in the rain...

Alan Harrison

"B Vaughan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Watch the stops as you go along so you know when to
    > get off, as they don't always announce them.

Err, Barbara, do I take it you were on a train so feficient in graffiti that
you could see out of the windows? :-)

Alan Harrison

B Vaughan

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 20:02:04 +0000 (UTC), "Alan Harrison"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >"B Vaughan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected].. .
    >> Watch the stops as you go along so you know when to
    >> get off, as they don't always announce them.
    >Err, Barbara, do I take it you were on a train so feficient in graffiti that
    >you could see out of the windows? :-)

Actualyt, yes, and I've been there at least four times. (Once I
arrived by car, however.)
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup