Rome (Again) Day 3


Advertisement
Italy's flag
Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome
September 25th 2008
Published: September 25th 2008
Edit Blog Post

As you know we didn’t “do” the Vatican Museums’ or St Peters so thought as we had a few days to fill in then we might as well give it another try.

Rome seems to have emptied out somewhat since we were here 2 weeks ago and there doesn’t seem to be as many people now. We found out about local buses and bus stops, where to buy tickets etc and set off. We reached St Peters Square around 10am and there didn’t seem to be as many people there either. We walked straight through the security check point and into the Basilica in no time. The inside is an amazing place and the flooring alone must be worth an incredible sum of money. We spent about an hour inside and remembering what the Aussie couple had said to us over dinner the last time in Rome I was keen to climb the stairs to the top. We tend to measure stairs against the Cinque Terre trek…I don’t think anything could eclipse those stairs!

Found where to go to buy the ticket to climb the stairs and mistakenly went on the wrong side of the barrier and ended up in the Pope’s tombs instead, oh well bonus! Paid our respects to the last pope and then back to find the right way to the top. Not sure how many steps but if we caught the elevator there was still 320 after that.

We reached the top and were now looking at a close up of the inside of the dome, tiny, tiny tiles in all different colours lined the walls and ceiling forming different pictures of various religious portraits. I commented that I thought we would be on the outside of the dome not the inside at the top and when we took the exit, made a right turn, then the 320 steps started! Wouldn’t be a place for the faint hearted or the claustrophobic as in some places it was very steep and very narrow. The end of the stairs lead to the outside of the dome where we enjoyed a full 360 degree view of Rome which as you can imagine was pretty spectacular!

Our timing was impeccable today (yes unlike the other night!!!) and we seemed to be just ahead of the main crowds. When we had finished and back in the square again the queues were worse than a couple of weeks ago and it was a lot cooler too.

We took a break and headed down a side street to miss the touristy places for lunch and found a quite area and enjoyed a salad.

After lunch it was time for the Sistine Chapel so we headed for the Vatican Museums where it is housed. I don’t remember the maze of various rooms that we were guided through the last time I was here and thought the Sistine Chapel was accessible from St Peters square. Anyway…we saw incredible paintings, sculptures, tapestries and artefacts before we actually reached the Chapel. We had hired an audio guide each and found it to be very informative. After about an hour we finally walked through the entrance to the Chapel, the length is much shorter than I remembered it to be (maybe I was thinking of the Basilica) and just breath taking. It was fairly dim as I guess they have learnt (from various restorations as late as 1994) that light together with humidity and dust affects the paint in a variety of ways. Glue has also affected the work in the past too, as did the collapse of the wall that displays Michelangelo’s story about the last judgement. We had previously learnt (and I may have already mentioned this) that Michelangelo learnt to paint whilst actually painting the ceiling of the Chapel, previously he was known as a sculptor but was ordered by the Pope at the time to paint the ceiling, he was 33 yrs old at the time. He painted the last judgment when he was 62. I remembered the Chapel to be much brighter and lighter the last time I was there but perhaps it was lit up like a Christmas tree then, and it was a few decades ago!

We were guided through another maze of rooms until finally reaching the exit. I’m glad we were able to see both the Basilica from inside and out, up and down and also the Chapel and museums. Probably an expensive exercise missing our plane, however, we have made the most of the time!

Tomorrow morning we will most likely go back to the Trevi Fountain early to see it without the hundreds of tourists and of course throw another coin in. Hopefully we won’t be back in such a short time this time…not that I’d complain of course!

Our last night in Roma (again) we spent in the Piazza at the Pantheon at a different restaurant tonight. Had fun, food…we’ve had better but in all fairness have had a lot to compare the meal to throughout our trip. I guess if we’d have been there in our first few days we’d have thought it was terrific.


Advertisement



Tot: 0.096s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 6; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0434s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb