Stop 1: Vatican City
It was a very sleepy me waking for my super early start on my second day in Rome. Even booking several months in advance, I had struggled to find a tour for one of the highlights of Rome, the Vatican city. So I’d had to book a very early tour, meaning I’d need to get to Rome before the campsite shuttles started operating. I’d checked out the local taxi situation prior to my trip and had been delighted to discover that I could get an Uber into Prima Porta, or into Rome itself.
St Peters Basilica
I was starting my tour of the Vatican city-state at the Basicila di San Pietro. The cathedral is the largest place of worship in the Roman Catholic church and it’s dome is the highest point in Rome. The dome, or ‘cupola’, was designed to house mosaics created in part by the artist Michelangelo and at the top, offers a spectacular view of the city. So this was going to be my first stop. Luckily, unlike the Cupola of Florence, this one has a lift, and although it only fits 7 people at a time, I was happy to wait.
The view from the top is quite incredible, with the fabulous view of St Peters Square (above) as well as a great birds eye view of Rome’s many other landmarks. I was happy to adjudicate a couples heated discussion as to whether it was possible to see the Colosseum by sharing my zoomed in picture (below).
As well as taking in the upper floors of the Basilica, we also got to see the papal sarcophagy. This is where every pope has their final resting place. And while I’m not a hugely recligious person, no one could fail to be moved by the simple dignity of the tombs.
Vatican Museums
We’d been in the Vatican City for a few hours by now and it was time for a small break before the next part of our tour, the Vatican Museums. Luckily the short walk from St Peters Square to the Museums entrance followed the route I’d taken earlier with the Uber. But it was easy enough to follow even for my fellow tourists.
Having arrived at our next pick up point, I was split into a group with a different guide, I think because we’d selected the Sistene Chapel as an optional extrra. I was a little disappointed to begin with , as our previous guide had been great. But I needn’t have been, our new guide Nadia was superb!
As we followed Nadia through the galleries, every single member of our group was hanging on her every word. There was nothing Nadia didn’t know about the Museums or the artifacts. Her passion for the art, and appreciation of the history was infectious! I will never be able to look at an art exhibit again without Nadia’s enthusiastic praise “so very very beautiful” echoing in the back of my mind. As Nadia herself said, it was impossible for us to see everything in the short time of the tour, but she navigated us through the crowds and focussed our attention on the most significant pieces.
I love museums, and get totally caught up in the stories behind the artifacts on display. I could spend literally days wandering around the Vatican Museums, and uncovering it’s secrets, but as a ‘taster’ visit, this had been absolutely perfect.
The very last part of our tour was devoted to the incredible Sistene Chapel. The Chapel is renowned for it’s Renaissance artworks, particularly the ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo. I found it very moving, although the constant buzz from the mass of other people in the room was quite annoying. I think I’d like to add this to my list of places to revisit at a quieter time.
A guided tour of the Vatican does not come cheap, and at 5 hours is the longest tour I did while travelling. But I would 100% recommend it, the insights and inspiration you get from a really awesome guide are priceless.
After all, without the effervescent Nadia having pointed it out, I would never have realised that a Margherita pizza symbolises the flag of Italy, or that Roma is ‘Amor’ backwards. And more importantly, I’d not have noticed many of the so very very beautiful things I got to see!
Stop 2: Hop on Hop Off!
After my early start and very busy morning, I was definitely having a bit of an energy dip. I decided to get some food and a beer at Ristorante Da Paolo Vaticano, right opposite the entrance to the Vatican Museum. It was surprisingly reasonable and the staff were really friendly, a great place to chill and regroup.
It was another very warm day, in the mid 30’s and although it had been really cool inside the museums, there was no escaping the heat outside. I wasnt’ really sure I was up for a whole lot of walking so I made a slight adjustment to my plans for the day.
Not too far away was the Castel SanAngelo museum, I decided to have a leisurely stroll and check it out as it was on the river and might be a nice place to chill for a while.
It was certainly a very imposing building, and I’m glad I got to visit. But having spent so much of the day indoors I kind of wanted to enjoy some of the beautiful day. I noticed that there was a ‘Hop on Hop Off’ bus stop nearby, and this was something that my friend Flossie had encouraged me to do while in Rome.
So I headed over the river and bought myself a ticket from one of the many kiosks along the tree lined embankment. It wasn’t long before my bus arrived, and it was actually really nice just chilling out and feeling the lovely breeze, while seeing a good few sights I’d not yet seen.
There are a whole bunch of different tours on offer. I took the ‘Greenline‘ tour as it was really flexible with 3 different routes and had the added option of a ‘vintage’ bus ride. I got a 2 day pass for €30 so that I could potentially re-use it the following day.
It was a really good shout by Floss. As well as showcasing some ‘hidden gems’, it provides great views of places like the Colosseum, Circus Maximus and Palatine Hill that you’d not get on foot. And it was lovely just to sit back and relax!
Overnight: Happy Village Camping
But there appeared to be something of a domestic incident taking place in one of the other campers. Only apparent because the assumed ‘husband’ was running around their camper in his underpants shouting, accompanied by the equally loud shouts of his ‘wife’ in the style of a bedroom farce. This went on for some time and was unintentionally quite hilarious to me and another couple camped next to me. Their names were Mary and Vincent, who hailed from the Nederlands, and who I quickly became very firm friends with.
So much so, that a few hours later we had a visit from the campsite warden asking us to be quiet. Apparently our shrieks of laughter could be heard from some distance. In our defence we were well outside the campsites ‘quiet zone’ of midnight to 6am. But as Mary and Vincent had an early start the next day, we reluctantly called it a night, and let our fellow campers get some sleep.
Honestly, one of the very best things about travelling, is having the opportunity to meet some really very lovely people from all over the world. It just goes to show that none of us are really that different … although if I were locked out of my camper in my underpants, I’d probably be a bit quieter!
