Ostia Antica and Ostia Lido

 Ostia Antica and Ostia Lido

After a nice hot humid afternoon getting repacked after recovering our riding gear from panniers etc. we enjoyed a nice pizza at our B&B suite hotel. They run an extremely successful B&B, pizzeria near Ostia Antica, which was the birthplace of Rome before Rome. We had been here passing through in 2006 and stayed in 2014 while visiting the ruins of Ostia Antica itself. Our neighbor Jeff who has a degree in Archeology remarked about how impressed he was with OA and it is impressive. Our 2014 Ostia experience is here. 

This morning, Sunday, we reset and were just going to go for a walk when I suggested we head close to the Lido and then take our walk there. It was a good plan.

Neptune and Friend to the left

The Lido was busy when we got there around 10:30 am as it was super sunny, 33C humid and real beach weather. As we walked the Lido we got to see Neptune with a guy fishing beside him, and jam packed beaches.

Beaches crowded

The architecture there is very clearly 17th-19th century and beautiful with many restorations in place and ongoing.

After a nice 1 1/2 hr walk in the heat we found a gelato place and had our 1st gelato. The owner a woman came out when I was getting mine and offered a taste of an almond gelato she had just made. It was excellent and added to my cone with the cheesecake gelato I had ordered.

As we sat out front in the shade a bus sounded it's horn to get cars to move that were double parked because of the busy beaches.

Double parking common on streets

Glad we have our bike!

We later found a mercato and bought buns, mortadella, and beer for a quick bite lunch back at the hotel. Nice way to spend a day resting up for our next destination Caserta. 

Psst.. don't tell Customs it wasn't til Monday.

Supper under the Stars

Ok, so have you ever gone to a restaurant where you were "stunned' by a meal?" I was in 2014 with Al Bajniero in Ostia Antica about a 2 block walk from our B&B. In an earlier year 2006 we had a similar experience at a ristorante just off Christof Columbo.

One of the risks of such a memorable experience is creating a legacy memory of a meal that raises expectations beyond a reasonable level. That's what we feared here. The ristorante is still there and this evening we went there wondering what it would be like. Well it exceeded the high expectations we had because it exceeded in every category, taste, prep, value, setting. Sandra ordered a spinach stuffed Ravioli with a Bruschetta starter and the red house wine. I a fish stuffed ravioli with 5 large shrimp. It was superb with a 1/2L of house red wine. You just can't get high quality food delivered in such a special setting for more than twice the price of here in Canada.

There's a reason Sandra is smiling and the place is special for family special meals.

Amazing Food and Company

Special celebration this evening