Day 12 – Saturday, September 26: Flight to U.S. or Extension to Rome: Ostia Antica, Catacombs, St. Paul’s Church Outside the Walls, Appian Way
The day began early for most of us (all except 7 who are flying home later). It was 3:20 a.m. that we left the hotel for the Athens Airport. Twenty seven of us are flying to Rome while the rest are flying home. It was a great Greece trip, with a great group of brothers and sisters in Christ. Praise God! We read from Colossians 1 as we began the day. The weather in Rome today was perfect, with full sun and highs around 80.
Rome
We landed in Rome about 8:45 a.m. We were greeted by Maurizio, our land agent who will take care of our group the next three days. Rome is a very large city, with about 6 million residents (3 million living inside the city limits, with 3 million living around the city). This means a LOT of traffic, everywhere (although it wasn’t bad today being that it is a Saturday!). There are a total of 453 churches in Rome. Generally, the ancient Roman walls that still can be seen date from 269-275 AD are 13-14 miles long. 380 towers were incorporated into the wall as well as 14 gates.
Ostia Antica
Once we boarded the bus, we drove towards the coast of Rome to the ancient port of Rome, Ostia Antica. The site was massive (it had a population of about 200,000), with ruins from the 1st century BC (although some as early as the 7th century BC) through the Byzantine Period. The city is like a mini “Pompeii” in many ways! Among the ruins we saw numerous houses, the theater (built in 12 BC), bathhouses, the Forum (Capitalium), and the Thermopolium. We even saw a Menorah here on one of the marbles. It’s very possible that Paul knew this Jewish community here (and perhaps visited this group of Jews?) when he was in Rome. Following the site to the site, we enjoyed an extended time in the small village of Ostia for lunch – pizza and other Italian goodies! 🙂
Appian Way
Following lunch, we boarded our bus and drove about 20 minutes to a small section of the Appian Way. Paul would have used this ancient road that dates back to as early as 312 BC. Paul walked 170 miles of this road into Rome, beginning at Puteoli (where his ship landed after the shipwreck at Malta). We walked about 10 minutes on this ancient pavement.
“While some in the group flew home from Athens today, 27 of us continued our journey to Rome! We had a great first day in this city of six million! More connections with Paul as well!”
Catacombs
Next, we drove back towards Rome to the Catacomb of Domitilla. This is one of the five or six of the largest underground cemeteries in Rome (a total of 62 catacombs have been discovered). This one was a Christian graveyard and it dates from about 150-450 AD. This catacomb here consist of 4 labyrinth layers of graves spanning about 8 miles. It is believed that there were 27,000 tombs here (2,000 of them have are still untouched). It was incredible to see so many of them. It was a cool 17 degrees Celsius down below (64 degrees).
St. Paul’s Church Outside the Walls
We ended our day with a visit to the St. Paul’s Church Outside the Walls. The church originally goes back to 330 AD. It was rebuilt many times. A fire in 1823 destroyed it, but it was rebuilt shortly later in 1827. By tradition, Paul was buried here. The traditional hand cuffs that bound Paul are also displayed here. 267 Popes are also displayed here all around the sanctuary. The church is owned and maintained by Vatican City. Truly, the structure is huge and very impressive.
We drove to our hotel and checked in to the Metroplo, a very nice hotel within the Star Hotel chain! We enjoyed a sit-down dinner at 7 p.m. followed by an optional walk to the Colosseum. It was incredible to see it at night. On the way back some enjoyed a gelato! 🙂
Day 13 – Sunday, September 27: St. Peter’s in Chains, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Mamertine Prison, Roman Forum, Constantine’s and Titus’ Arches, Colosseum
