We had only a shot distance to go today - Romero the ferry terminal and the ferry Chechen in was 9pm so we knew we had the whole day to play with. We had requested a late checkout of 1pm as we thought it might be fun to relax and enjoy the hotel pool. And so it turned out. A relaxed breakfast sometime after 9 then a later trip to the pool with a coffee. It wasn’t heated and the temperature has dropped, possibly 10 degs since last week (it was still 24 today) so it was a bit ouch getting in, but very nice all the same. The pool will close on the 25th, I assume because it will just be too cold.
Anyway back to the room for a shower and pack and we left the hotel at 1pm, and headed for Ostia Antico, the port of Ancient Rome. It is now 1.5 miles from the sea and the Tiber has been routed away from it, but for 800 years it was the defensive then the commercial heart of Rome. We spent at least a couple of hours there marvelling once again at the Romans organisational and engineering skills. Very little is left of the beauty of the place, but small fragments remain. They continue to excavate. The place was MUCH quieter than The Colosseum where you could hardly move (no exaggeration) but there were a few groups - mainly German teenagers!
At 4 we headed north knowing we still had 5.5 hours before checkin opened, so we pulled off the motorway at Santa Severa and drove right along the sea until we came to a likely looking town, Santa Marinella, in order to while away some time. And so it turned out. We wandered, bought an ice cream, explored the marina and a bit of the coast, and had a drink in the buzzy little square.
We were quite sad to leave, knowing this was exactly the sort of place we would have loved to have a drink, a meal and spend the night! We then had a super 1/2 hour drive up the coast, with the setting sun, driving along the promenades of the various towns including Civitavecchia ( which we’d been led to leave was not nice but actually it looked super). We could see the high rise cruise ships lying in its harbour as we drove north.
Sadly when we finally found the terminal and checkin in the boat appeared to be 1.5 hour late, with a checkin starting at 10.30! So we simply sat in the car from 7.30 or so until we boarded, which finally happened just after 10.30. Into the perfectly acceptable cabin with a window, and to the bar for our welcome drink. Then finally to bed.
Daily drive 66 miles
Total trip 2854 miles
