This is a picture of Plaza Mayor in Madrid. This is a closeup of the statue of Phillip III that is in Plaza Mayor. Madrid street view. This is a strange looking bird we saw in the botanical gardens in Madrid. I don't know what kind of bird it is. If anyone does, please post it in the comments. Another Madrid street view.
If you are going to Rome, I really can't recommend a visit to Ostia enough. It is every bit as good as Pompeii, and in some ways it's even better. Pompeii is, of course, awesome, but Ostia is very different. Pompeii was a wealthy city, while Ostia was much more working class, as it was a port town. Also, you can visit Ostia from Rome using a single 1 euro metro ticket (make sure to also have one for the trip back). It couldn't be easier. Ostia was so important because the sea-going vessels were too large to travel up the Tiber River, so goods were loaded off the big ships and loaded onto barges for the trip up to Rome. Even after Ostia was replaced by the new ports built under the orders of Claudius and (I think) Trajan, for many years Ostia remained an important administrative center for coordinating the new ports. If you want to read more about Ostia, please check out this website. It really contains an amazing amount of information http://www.ostia-antica.org/ Goo...
Comments