Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-07-10 05:36:00 - Graham Ellis
Looking back, I didn't put (m)any pictures of Ephesus up on my blog when we visited Turkey in 2004 on a "Geek Cruise". But that was a very timing week, with places to see, lectures to attend on Perl, PHP and MySQL, notes to write up, and a business to run from the Wifi connection in the ship's bar. I was reminded on the Turkey trip yesterday when I saw the "Costa Medditeranea" again - this time in Civitavecchia, the port of Rome.
And I was reminded of Ephesus when we visited Ostia Antica - a side trip from the normal fayre that's on offer, arranged by Lisa's brother Phil who has seen Rome on more occasions than we have, and like us didn't fancy the long drive to avoid (or in his case last time, not avoid) the pickpockets. A mosaic ... and another echo of "The Horse's mouth" theme. Horse were an important animal in Italy 2000 years ago!
Ephesus, and the sites in Rome itself, are all busy and overrun with tourists, but our boat didn't even offer a side trip to Ostia - we had to arrange in for ourselves. In Ephesus, I would have been lucky to get this picture with less than 200 people but here in Ostia, I could have chosen a completely geometric canvas without a single person - I chose to wait and take a picture with a pretty young lady to give you an idea of scale (well - that's my excuse, anyway!).
Ostia is et over a huge, huge site. The road from Rome leads though a gate into the ancient port, now sadly well away from the coast and the Tiber, which has changed its course over the last two millenia. There are homes and shop, streets and temples, columns aand graveyards, trees and evena laundry as far as the eyes can see. A guide was arrange for us, and we were enthralled ... and once again we took only pictures and memories away with us, and I'm left wondering what to do with the pictures.
The Necropolis of the Banditaccia at Cerveteri has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. Tombs date from the 9th century BC (Villanovan culture) to the late Etruscan age (3rd century BC). Yet we had that site even more to ourselves - a guide in the form of a sheet of paper in a protective plastic shade, and a cafe at which we were the only customers, with the owners / operators playing cards and reading the paper to pass the time.
I'm reminded of the great potential we have in Wiltshire too for making the very most of some interesting tourist spots which are not quite the main ones. Much smaller that the magnificent ruins at Ostia and Cervertini, but never the less worth encouraging people to see. There are times that I feel that Wiltshire could do with a bit more marketing; theses places are great, but I admit that I'll be glad to be back on home soil soon.
Looking back, I didn't put (m)any pictures of Ephesus up on my blog when we visited Turkey in 2004 on a "Geek Cruise". But that was a very timing week, with places to see, lectures to attend on Perl, PHP and MySQL, notes to write up, and a business to run from the Wifi connection in the ship's bar. I was reminded on the Turkey trip yesterday when I saw the "Costa Medditeranea" again - this time in Civitavecchia, the port of Rome.
And I was reminded of Ephesus when we visited Ostia Antica - a side trip from the normal fayre that's on offer, arranged by Lisa's brother Phil who has seen Rome on more occasions than we have, and like us didn't fancy the long drive to avoid (or in his case last time, not avoid) the pickpockets. A mosaic ... and another echo of "The Horse's mouth" theme. Horse were an important animal in Italy 2000 years ago!
Ephesus, and the sites in Rome itself, are all busy and overrun with tourists, but our boat didn't even offer a side trip to Ostia - we had to arrange in for ourselves. In Ephesus, I would have been lucky to get this picture with less than 200 people but here in Ostia, I could have chosen a completely geometric canvas without a single person - I chose to wait and take a picture with a pretty young lady to give you an idea of scale (well - that's my excuse, anyway!).
Ostia is et over a huge, huge site. The road from Rome leads though a gate into the ancient port, now sadly well away from the coast and the Tiber, which has changed its course over the last two millenia. There are homes and shop, streets and temples, columns aand graveyards, trees and evena laundry as far as the eyes can see. A guide was arrange for us, and we were enthralled ... and once again we took only pictures and memories away with us, and I'm left wondering what to do with the pictures.
The Necropolis of the Banditaccia at Cerveteri has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. Tombs date from the 9th century BC (Villanovan culture) to the late Etruscan age (3rd century BC). Yet we had that site even more to ourselves - a guide in the form of a sheet of paper in a protective plastic shade, and a cafe at which we were the only customers, with the owners / operators playing cards and reading the paper to pass the time.