I'm a native Californian, but I've been working as a tour guide in Rome since 2008. I've seen how increased tourism is affecting popular sites like the Colosseum and the Vatican. People spend hours waiting in lines, making it difficult to truly enjoy the experience, and it seems to get more crowded every year.

But just a 30-minute train ride away, Ostia Antica is a vast, uncrowded archaeological park that provides a glimpse into the daily life of ancient Romans. In its heyday (around the seventh century BC), it was a major port and commercial hub of the Roman Empire. The ruins of upper-class Pompeii are more well-known, but Ostia Antica lets you see how everyday working-class Romans lived.