20th September
We had pre-booked entry to the Vatican for 10.30am, so we had breakfast at 8am and then caught a bus (98) from outside the hotel into town. Our room is on the 3rd floor and the restaurant is on the 4th floor (aka the roof), but the stairs went onto the roof but there was no access into the restaurant, so we had to use the lift! We had no idea of how the transport system ran or where we needed to get off. Our first mistake is that you have to buy your ticket before you get on the bus (tickets can be bought in bars and at news-stands). The journey wasn’t great as the bus was packed as it was rush hour and very hot and sticky. When we saw the dome of St Peter’s we got off the bus vowing that we would make sure we got a ticket for the return journey. It was great to get some air after the stuffiness of the bus.
There are lots of hawkers around, but to be fair if you said
you were not interested they did leave you alone.
We were about 30mins early for our meeting
time, so we decided to get a coffee (and use the loo). A young man who was touting for tours of the Vatican
directed us to a coffee shop (even though he wasn’t going to get anything from
us). The coffee was lovely, but the loo was not so nice!
We met the group
organisers and got a coloured card in exchange for our booking voucher – we
then followed the guide in to the Vatican – bypassing the queue and
she then got our tickets and exchanged our coloured cards for entrance
tickets. Then we were left to our own devices. We paid €26.50 each for this ticket as
opposed to the €15 it would cost if we queued for hours – well worth the money.
Inside the Vatican we decided that we really wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, so as we had been advised that if it got too busy they would shut the doors we decided to try and go straight there.
Even the quickest route to the Sistine Chapel takes the visitor through the majority of the rooms and corridors, although we probably spent a lot less time in each section than most people, but we wanted to drink it all in and there was no way we would see everything in detail in the time we had. There are miles of corridors each of them filled with wonderful paintings, tapestries, sculptures, gold and other objects of art. Any photographs taken really cannot give a true representation of the wonder of it all. To study each area properly would probably take months!
Each room and corridor revealed more and more wonders – and lots of steps to tone the legs! When we entered the Sistine Chapel – WOW! No photos are allowed here and you were supposed to be quiet, but as usual people had other ideas and took flash photos (flash wasn’t even allowed in the rest of the Vatican !) and were quite noisy. It was so stunning though – I wish we could spend longer in there, but all the seats and steps were occupied by people and it was uncomfortable standing and getting nudged along.
We had lunch in the
pizzeria, opting for soft drinks although draught beer was available. Very reasonable: €12.40 for 2 pizza slices
and 2 cokes. Although the guide books
had said there were not many toilets or places to eat, in reality there
were. There is a café in one of the
courtyards, a restaurant and the pizzeria, plus there are toilets in several
locations – and I never had to queue!
Very clean too.
We left the Vatican , and dodging the hawkers (except for the
ones giving away free Coke Zero!) we walked to the river at Ponte Vittorio
Emanuelle II and wandered past the Castel Sant ‘Angelo, Plazza del Tribunall
and Palazzo de Giustizia (Palace
of Justice
After a rest in the shade we headed back to the bus stop,
stopping on the way for an ice cream (and a beer for Mark) in a very insalubrious
setting. We bought bus tickets at a
newspaper kiosk and caught the 98 back to the hotel.
We had a rest, a shower and change then down to the bar for
a Nastro Azzurro! We went for a lovely
meal at Ristorante da Arturo just 2 minutes walk downhill from the hotel. We decided that this would be our “nice meal”
of the holiday and went for the traditional meal structure – Antipasto (I had
Parma Ham with Melon and Mark had preserved meats), Primo (first course – I had
seafood pasta and Mark had risotto), Secondo (I had veal and Mark had steak),
Contorno (vegetables with the main course – spinach for me and chips for Mark). We decided we were too full for anything else
and after finishing our wine we tried to get the waiter’s attention to get the
bill. Eventually we went in search of
someone and the manager/owner was shocked that we had to do that (but probably
more shocked that we didn’t just walk out!) and gave us a chocolate ice cream
and glasses of limoncello – it would have been rude not to accept! So effectively we had the Dolce (sweet) and
Digestivo (digestives – such as grappa, amaro, limoncello, sambuca and nocino). The food was delicious and although we
probably went for the more expensive options it would have been possible to
have a cheaper and smaller meal. I would
definitely go back if we were in the area again.
Back to the hotel and bed.
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