When exploring an area with deep history, you have to expect surprises. We stumbled across the Abbey of Saint Roman and were, well, surprised.

Located IN a mountaintop, the abbey was started in the 5th century AD and was active until the 16th century AD. The monks carved their housing out of the living rock, tunneling through the entire peak. As you might imagine, the living quarters were rather sparse, but they did live in the traditions of monasteries throughout the ages--right down to the wine press room.

The kids (including Perri) loved exploring the many chambers-though we parents had a hard time with them crawling into the stone caskets carved into the top of the mountain.

 

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Page created on 03 Jan 2002