Archeologists have unearthed an ancient reststop.
Deep beneath a bus terminus in the town of Neuss, near Dusseldorf, they have found the 2000-year-old foundations of a roadside rest-stop, complete with forecourt, chariot workshop, restaurant and an area to give horses water and hay.
A Roman traveller would have been able to order a fast-food meal before setting off on the wide road – it ran the length of Germany – or book a room and spend the night. There may not have been sweets or hamburgers, but travellers could buy clothes, preserved meat and olives.
Sabine Sauer, the archaeologist leading the team which spent the past year investigating the site, said: “We’ve nicknamed it Big Maximus, because people would have pulled their chariots into the forecourt and ordered pork cutlets and wine, before heading back on the road.”
Pork, wine, and olives. Ah, the good old days.
Apt. 11d 