19:59
This is going to be special. I've never seen the treasures I've been promised down here before. This is Baiae's lost harbor, where the notorious Caligula is said to have reacted to a prophecy that he would never be emperor until he rode on horseback across the water of the bay by tethering 4,000 ships together from this harbor wall and trotting across. That was my first sighting of the Portus Julius. What's magic is that you can follow the grand monumentality of the lines, the solid masonry that's still there, straight out to sea and then across the bay. You can imagine that those walls doing a pretty good job of protecting the fleet.
Now I want to experience the posh villas, and as these watery gems have sunk even deeper beneath the waves, I'll need to scuba dive for this. This is absolutely incredible. I could do with a little champagne, I think, at this moment in time. So, we're in one of the rooms of one of those posh fancy villa owners, and I am currently in the process of uncovering this gentleman's mosaic floor. If only this mosaic could talk. The mosaic floor isn't the only treat. The statues in this Roman villa are now faithful replicas, so that enthusiasts can still share the magic of this lost world.
There was a wonderful story that in this dining room there a channel of seawater that the plates of exotic food floated on around the diners. It was the yo sushi moving belt of the ancient world. So, there's a wonderful irony that now this is itself underwater. And the fish that once graced the tables now rule supreme down here. I absolutely love it. This is the first time that I've been able to see this underwater world. Lost in time. Wrapped in silence. As the sea levels have risen and the earth has fallen.
