To the Villa Romana de Río Verde & back

A few minutes of sunshine between thunderstorms gave us a chance to see dramatic surf crashing on the beaches of the Mediterranean today. This stretch of the coastal path includes some heavily reinforced barriers against the power of the sea. Iron rods tie rocks together and wooden walkways rise above areas where the beach no longer exists. There were a surprising number of people out on the trail, armed with umbrellas of all sizes. We envied the people with the huge double tiered ones. Or better yet, the many babies in their fancy strollers with wrap-around rain shields.

The second century Roman villa is only open limited hours, but we knew this ahead of time, and also knew we would be able to see its well-preserved mosaics showing kitchen implements through the fencing that surrounds the site. This villa was part of a larger community that probably included a garam factory for sending the prized fish sauce to other parts of the empire. The large number of murex (muricadie) shells found here indicates that purple dye was also produced nearby.

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