Ruins, Vino, and Horses, Oh my!

Well, now that my internet is working well enough to upload pictures, I can finally post pictures from the last couple of weeks in Italy. Since my last post, we have gone on excursions to Urbs Salvia and to Fonte Avellana.

The first excursion was to Urbs Salivia where there are ruins of an ancient Roman temple, colosseum, and amphitheater. It was truly an amazing experience because the Roman handprint was on absolutely everything we saw.

Some ancient Frescoes in the Temple

Ancient Roman bones?

We found a ton of porcupine quills in the ruins. Now they're souvenirs.

Just sitting on a wall of a ancient Roman dressing room from the amphitheater.

The view from the top of the seating area. It was amazing how nice the acoustic were still today.

We then headed to an Abbey to visit the cloister and see some extremely old artifacts.

This feels like a scene from Harry Potter. Pensieve?

The church was beautiful and simple.

The courtyard of the cloister where the monks would have lived

After the Abbey we went to a Vineyard and learned how wine is made.

Containers where red wine was being fermented. After seeing the process we got to do a little wine tasting. They set out a spread of pane, prosciutto, salami, formaggi, e una torta (cake) made with mosta- the juice of the grapes that has just begun to ferment. We got to try some just after it was made and it was delicious! Italians use this to make cakes and cookies.

The next week, we took a trip to Fonte Avellana, another abbey that is in the mountains. We had the option to hike there, which I excitedly agreed to. It was absolutely the most beautiful hike I have ever been on. We took the same route that ancients would have taken to get to the Abbey long ago. Dante has taken this trail- pretty amazing!

Red faced, but extremely happy to be at the top of a mountain! (I'm rocking my Starkid shades)

The view from the top of a cliff.

We saw a trio of wild horses who came right up to us as if we did not even exist.

First view of the Abbey in the distance- I cannot believe people used to trek for 5 hours in sandals of barefoot! My feet hurt and I was wearing $80 workout shoes!

We finally made it to the abbey, which was beautiful! They didn't allow us to take pictures inside, but it was very plain anyways. I was so tired I could have passed out standing up, but it was well worth it for that amazing hike!