A couple of weeks ago I had a friend come to visit me in Rome, and I took advantage of my new status as tour guide to make another visit to Ostia Antica. Walking down a hallway somewhere near the thermopolium, we were surprised to find a small owl curled up in a niche in the wall:

An owl at Ostia Antica

(thanks to Rachel for the photograph)

Actually, having a friend visiting Italy was a great excuse to visit Ostia Antica again. Ostia’s a wonderful place to explore, and large enough that you can easily lose the crowds and find yourself wandering around the ruins alone (apart from the odd scorpion and maybe a snake). In the biglietteria I was very pleased to discover that they also still had some of the old grey guidebooks left, like the one I mentioned in my post about visiting the Ara Pacis. These ancient guidebooks, outdated as they are, are very addictive and I can feel a collector’s passion for them coming on…