Ever since I first started my travel obsession over a decade ago, I've been fascinated by the idea of visiting the Vatican City. For starters, it's located within one of the most beautiful and interesting cities on the planet. Secondly, it's by far the smallest country in the world, at only 0.49 square kilometres, making it an fun bucket list destination for any traveller.
When I was living in
Austria, I absolutely loved the fact that I could travel to foreign countries so easily and spontaneously, just by taking a train or a bus. But travelling to the Vatican City was the first time I've been able to actually
walk to another country, which is even more of a novelty! (Okay, so I have walked between
Wales and
England while visiting
Chepstow, but not between official sovereign states before.)
So, Claudio and I made visiting the Vatican one of our priorities during our week in
Rome, and prebooked tickets to visit the Vatican Museums on our first morning.
Unfortunately the morning didn't get off to the best start; Claudio had had a bad cold the week prior to our holiday, and while he was now on the mend, I woke up that day feeling fatigued and with a streaming nose. It's always annoying to get a cold, but it's especially irritating for it to happen when you're just starting a much-anticipated holiday, as opposed to during a normal working week! But all the same, I didn't want to let it stop me from enjoying our time abroad. So I took some cold and flu medication, and we set out on foot to the entrance to the Vatican Museums.
Being completely honest, I have to say that the Vatican Museums were the attraction that disappointed us the most during our week in Rome.
For one, it was definitely the attraction where we had to queue the longest to get in, despite the fact that we had prebooked tickets. Additionally, it was by far the most crowded place we visited during the week, which surprised me, as I'd expected places like the Colosseum and the Pantheon to be much busier. And on top of that, it just wasn't really a place that wowed us that much.
Don't get me wrong, there is an absolute array of incredible artefacts in the museum, from treasures of Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt, to some of the most valuable works of art ever created, including the world-famous Sistine Chapel. It was very interesting to see all of these beautiful things - I especially liked the Egyptian cat statues!
But at the same time, the place was so huge, and so full of sculptures and paintings and gold, that it was hard to take it all in. The crowds of tourists (including plenty of children far too young to appreciate this kind of place) also made it a less than relaxing environment.
And when we arrived in the Sistine Chapel, squashed in with dozens of other people, it was hard not to feel underwhelmed. Of course it was beautiful, but it didn't seem that incredibly different to what we'd already seen in the rest of the museum. I couldn't help remembering the painted ceiling of the cathedral in
Udine, which I was really blown away by - I thought the Sistine Chapel would have a similar effect, but it just didn't really connect with me, probably because it was so small and crowded.
So, overall, we didn't feel like the 25€ we spent on our Vatican Museums tickets were that well spent, and we certainly won't be going back there if we return to Rome in the future. But, having said that, it is something that we felt we had to do during our first visit to the city, and at least we can say that we've now been there and done that (just like with
the Mona Lisa!).
After visiting the musuem, we had to go back to our hotel, as it was raining and Claudio had forgotten his umbrella. We had breakfast at a nice French place next to the hotel, and then set off towards the Vatican again, this time to visit St. Peter's Square, or Piazza San Pietro.
If the Vatican Museums weren't really worth visiting, St. Peter's Square definitely was! The size of it is incredible, and the architecture is beautiful, from the stunning basilica, to the Apostolic Palace and the Colonnades.
We decided to queue up to enter St. Peter's Basilica, and we're very glad we did. Although the queue was long, it moved quickly, so it wasn't long before we were inside. And the inside of the building was incredible! It's actually the biggest church in the world, and the sheer size of it is amazing. It's also unbelievably ornate with so much gold and a level of detail that's hard to take in.
After spending a long time exploring the church, we decided to pay to go up to the top of the cupola. It costs 10€ per person to take a lift up to the roof, and from there you can climb up about 300 steps to get to the top. I wasn't quite sure about the idea at first, as I was feeling very tired with my cold, but we wanted to make the most of our time in this tiny, unique country, so we decided to go for it.
It was a special experience to arrive on the roof and to see the cupola up close. There was even a little café up there, where we bought croissants!
We then started the climb up to the very top of the building. Some parts of the staircase were incredibly narrow, and were in a spiral shape, so you couldn't see where they ended - the claustrophobia was actually worse than the climb itself. But in the end, we arrived at the top, and were able to look out across the whole of the Vatican, including the parts that we didn't visit, such as the Vatican Gardens.
After coming back down to the ground again, we both agreed that it was time to head back to
Italy for a pizza!
To sum up, visiting the Vatican was a very unique and interesting experience. It's actually the 30th country that I've visited and Claudio's 10th, and I think it's quite fun that it was the smallest country in the world that got us up to those particular milestones!
Of course, after our day in the Vatican, we still had plenty left in Rome to explore. Our next day was spent exploring sights including the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and much more...
