Latitudes of Matticus: Epic Honeymoon - Day 16

The exit stairs in the Musei Vaticani.

On Saturday, 30^th September, we had made plans to visit the country within the city of Rome: The Vatican. As a separate city-state, crossing into Vatican City technically counts as visiting a new country – not that you get a stamp on your passport or anything. Obviously you can’t just wander around the entire grounds, but you can visit the various holy sites and museums to learn a bit about the history of the Catholic Church.

Didn't buy a ticket ahead of time? Join the queue!!

The main entrance to Musei Vaticani is on the north-eastern side. Again, we bought the tickets ahead of time, and this one was even more valuable than the Colosseum; the line to get in without pre-booking was enormous.

Front entrance to the Vatican Museum.

Displaying a phenomenal amount of sculptures, paintings, relics and artefacts from periods ranging thousands of years, the Musei Vaticani would take you days to fully explore at a leisurely pace. There’s a huge amount of information to read about certain items, and some of it is truly very interesting.

Incredible detail on some of the marble carvings.

The unfortunate downside to the Vatican is the other people...! As such a huge tourist destination, it is pretty much always packed to the limit. Given that we visited on a Saturday probably made it worse for us. Every exhibit was crowded with people taking selfies and photos, most not really taking any interest in reading about or appreciating the artworks. It was really quite sad, to be honest. At one point, a family actually pushed Avy out of the way while she was reading an information board just so they could have their photo in front of a statue. We gave them a bit of a serve...

This guy hates rude tourists, too!

But all that aside, the Musei Vaticani is still a must see when you visit Rome. It took us about 3 hours to get through the whole thing, and that was with skipping past certain areas, and trudging along with the crowd in others; it can get so crowded that you just shuffle your way through without getting to stop and read. But you just have to make your best of the situation and move along!

Ridiculously ornate ceilings.

Raphael's room.

Of course, one of the main attractions of Musei Vaticani is the Sistine Chapel. On my last visit in 2011, we simply wandered through without stopping, just gazing at the ceiling. On this occasion, Avy and I were lucky to grab a seat by the wall and just sit and admire the amazing artwork. I’m not a big art fan, but I can always appreciate Renaissance art simply due to the immaculate detail that goes into it – when a painting could be mistaken for a photo, I’m sold. Modern art... not so much! Michaelangelo’s heart and soul is plastered all over the walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and you absolutely must visit to appreciate it at least once in your life. Just don’t try to take any photos (even without flash)! Plenty of people do sneak a photo here and there, but the security guards are all over you, announcing over the microphone: “SILENCE! SHHHH! NO PHOTO. NO VIDEO.”

A light and affordable lunch.

Escaping back into Italy, we wandered around the local streets looking for some lunch, stopping at a small cafe which was offering pasta, coffee and water for under €7. It was nice, but nothing spectacular. There are plenty of options around the area, so just explore and you’ll find something that works for you. From there, we followed the Vatican walls around to the south-east side where you have open access to St. Peter’s Square, which needs no introduction. From here, you can take in the view of the magnificent St. Peter’s Basillica and the less noticeable (unless you know what you’re looking for) Sistine Chapel exterior.

That's quite a line for St. Peter's Basilica...

Hang on a tick...

Where's the end of the line?

Ah! THERE it is!

The magical St. Peter's Basilica... which we didn't bother waiting for hours to enter!

A beautiful day in the Vatican.

We hadn’t planned much after the Vatican visit, as we were unsure how long it would take. Having finished in the early afternoon, we decided to wander into central Rome and check a few sites, starting with Piazza Navona. It’s a fairly easy walk, and if you keep your eyes peeled, you’ll see signs pointing you there from the main roads. Tucked away in the back streets, Piazza Navona explodes in front of you, opening up to a wide space with three magnificent fountains along the length. A great place to sit and relax, or grab an overpriced gelato!

Piazza Navona.

Meandering through some of the streets around the plaza, we eventually made our way to Via Della Fontanella di Borghese and walked the length of it all the way to the Spanish Steps. Covered in people sitting and doing not much, I can see why one review I read didn’t understand the fascination; “You could visit the Spanish Steps,” it read, “but why? They’re just steps.” I completely agree! We basically just arrived at the Piazza di Spagna and veered off to the left to enter the metro station.

The Spanish Steps.

Back in our home area, we opted to get some Chinese food to satisfy wife’s cravings, which had returned, walking into La Sorgente. Unfortunately, the quality here was not as good as we had had in other cities, and the portion sizes were quite small.

Wife's favourite - hot and sour soup.

Not too bad, but nothing spectacular.

We took a walk up towards Santa Maggiore and happened across L'Orso Bianco, a little gelato shop that had a deal of €1 off all sizes after 7pm, and as luck would have it, it was about 7:01pm! We got 3 or 4 flavours in a cone (that promptly collapsed, but was luckily caught in a hastily-provided cup!) for €2.50; an absolute bargain! And the flavours were quite nice too! We had planned to return the following night, but didn’t get around to it. This is definitely a great spot for an evening gelato if you’re near Roma Termini.