A Find and Moving to the Port

   We still have  a bit of time so I thought that I would try to

Old Wall

finish the Rome portion of our trip.  We needed to take the train to the port so we decided to do some touring in the morning.  Breakfast and packing were the order of the morning.  We stored our bags at the hotel and headed South west on the metro for San Giovanni which is the church which is the home of the Bishop of Rome - the pope.  It is located just inside the old wall fortifications of Rome so that visit was a bonus.  The church itself was like all the others in the splendor of the interior.  We also had a chance to attend Mass while in the the church.  We then headed back to the hotel which took us towards the "Colosseo". 
    Our destination was San Clemante an

old church.  The church itself was very stark by any standard and you would not spend a second in the church.  The attraction was the area under the church.  They have done some excavations and you can enter the "older" church which goes back to 4-500 AD.  It still has some of the original frescos in it.   It was as big as the "new" church which was built on top of it.
 The real attraction however is what is under the "old" church.

  They have found the original  Roman ruins.  It included a temple (room) used for ancient worship by a group that was as popular as christianity in the early centuries.  A room for a school was also in the the area.  Then there was the series of rooms which was probably a Villa of some sort.  It had a small spring in it where the water was still flowing!  Running water in the house!   The place was very large - it seemed like room after room  was opened up.  It may have been used as a Roman Mint at one time.  Very very interesting.  A hidden find in Rome!

  The way back saw us stop at Santa Maria Maggiore.
Another hugh church but by then we were churched out.  We headed back to the hotel,   grabbed our bags and took the train to the port where we stayed the night before joining the ship.  More on that in the next post.  Today we are at sea, tomorrow the same, and then Egypt the day after! Cheers!