Why, why, why?

After getting absolutely NO sleep last night because of our male students partying all night long, we travelled by bus to Oropa Sanctuary today. It is a very religious place with churches and bastilles. The Oropa is dedicated to the Black Madonna and sits on a sacred mountain. It was a crazy busride to the top of the mountain and I was not expecting the weather to be that much colder there. We had a great tour guide who was very knowledgeable and eager to tell us historical stories. Unfortunately, it is very hard to keep a big group together and make them listen to the tour guide. After a while, I ventured off on my own so that I could explore before we had to get back on the bus. Since it was Sunday, services were going on in the various churches which was very cool to see. The tourists were allowed to stand in the back of the church and take some pictures. Instead of having lunch at one of tourist shops, I went to a corner parking lot to get some authentic Italian food. There was meat, cheese and bread stands. I got some onion focaccia type bread which was really good!


We were driven back to the city center and got an hour to shop and get food if people didn't get to that yet. I went to get some groceries because buying food every day is expensive. I tried the ''best gelato in Biella'' which was amazing! My favorite is the yoghurt and lemon flavors. Our tourguide then took the remaining students on a walking tour of the city. She had a lot of interesting facts but it took a long time and everyone was getting very tired. By the end of the tour, only about 10 people were left, everyone else had gone back to the hostel already. 


I was exhausted when we got back to the hostel. Madlen and I enjoyed a typical Italian siesta and just layed on our beds for an hour. We then had supper in our room (bread and nutella and fruit), I finished my book, showered and am hoping to get some sleep soon. The boys are outside again being loud!

Our room in the fully booked Hostel

The Piazza outside our hostel. There was a local boxing tournament that night

The Hostel- Ostello Biella

Something new to me- cobblestone streets everywhere!

View from the Finicolare. This is a little cart that takes passengers from the bottom/main part of the city to the top where our hostel was located. We had some interesting experiences on this thing!

Porshe/ Tourism Italy advertising by Carien

Beautiful architecture and history

This was Oropa, high up in the hills

One of the four Piazza's (squares)

Tourists

Wall with all the important visitors like numerous popes

Fountain of holy water

Catholic church service

Artsy picture

These pictures were taken on the tour of Biella. This house was going to be torn down because Italians don't maintain their structures

Another view of the city

The shopping street but everything was closed on Sunday

Inside another church

Very old Baptism center