How can we go to Rome and not visit the sacred home of the Roman Catholics, Vatican City. It has to be one of the most visited places in the world. It has the charm of power, history and just feels closer to god. I have watched many documentaries and travel shows on Vatican City. After all the hype on TV, it feels out of this world that I am finally here physically.

Tours and Tickets

One thing you will realise about visiting Vatican City, everyone wants to visit the Vatican City. Therefore there’s throngs of crowd. We decided to go for a tour, with skip the line option. This means we will probably be rushed through the visit. tours normally adviertise as having 3 hour duration, that’s a good half a day. Going for a tour would also mean that we get some explanation on what we are seeing. We got our tickets from Tours About.

Even with the tours and skip the line, there’s a long queue going into the vatican city. There is just crowd everywhere. Our tour was in the morning so we made sure we had a good breakfast.

There was a separate queue that winds around the Vatican City wall. I think those are people who did not follow a tour and want to enjoy Vatican City at their own pace.

The Museum

After entering a “sterile” hall where bags are scanned, we went up the escalator to start the tour of the Museums. The museums form a large part of Vatican City. This is where all the treasures collected from the wealth of catholic church is kept. Most of the exhibits are statues, and a lot of them are unique and important pieces of art.

You can look at the key exhibits from the Vatican Museum website

We are lucky to get a tour guide for this part of the visit. There’s a lot of the pieces that has stories to it. If not for the guide, we would have been walking past statues after statues.

A few buildings make up the museums. So you will be going in and out of buildings.

Sistine Chapel

At the end of the Museums, we are led into the Sistine Chapel. Say the word Sistine Chapel and the famous paintings of Michelangelo comes to mind. I have only ever seen pictures of those paintings but was another enlightened moment that I was able to see it in real life. Before going into the Sistine Chapel, the guide tols us some story about how rebellious Michelangelo is. There is a picture of a naked butt looking down from the ceiling.

Another thing that Sistine Chapel is known for is the selection of the pope. It is a very elaborate and traditional practice full of symbolism to elect the leader of the Roman Catholic church around the world. Apparently, during the Pope selection process, the tables and stove to burn the ballots are brought into the Chapel.

For all the grandeur associated with Sistine Chapel, I find that it is small and unassuming. Other than the paintings on the ceiling, it’s basically a small room.

It is a chapel after all, a holy place of prayer for the sole discretion use of the Pope. Imaging squeezing crowds of tourist in a that small room, the staff had to remind people to keep the noise level low. Cameras are not allowed in the Sistine Chapel, so no pictures.

The Grotto

After the Sistine Chapel, our tour guide took us through a shortcut out to the courtyard after the Room of the Immaculate Conception. This is is probably where “skip the line” happens as a Vatican City employee had to open a barricade for us to walk through.

The tour guide said goodbye to us at the courtyard and pointed the way to the grotto that would take us to St Peters Basilica.

The grotto was interesting as it is the resting place of many famous Popes. The most important would be St, Peters. It is said that St. Peter’s Basilica was built on top of his grave. St Peters was the disciple that Jesus choose to spread Christianity. 

St. Peter’s tomb is behind a glass door and supposedly under the main dome of the basilica. 

Contrary to what we thought, the grotto was not eerie at all. Was clean and adequately lit.

St Peter’s Basilica

The sheer size of the basilica is impressive. They are able to build such a huge space where the dome dominates the architecture. This is a place full of symbolisms and projection of grandeur.

The unassuming exterior of the basilica does not reflect the actual size of place

After taking photos, we walked out of the basilia and out into the plaza. The famous plaza surrounded by Bernini’s angels. Gives me shivers standing in the plaza where I had only till then see on TV.

Our Experience

Our tour guide told us that certain sections of the Vatican City can be closed depending on the Pope. He may have a visitor and he wants to show the visitor around, At the end, the Pope  has the final authority over everything that happens in Vatican City. He even get to choose who stays in the city.

The tour guide also told us that every 25 years, Vatican City will celebrate its Jubilee. So the next Jubilee is 2025 and it starts on 24th December 2024. To prepare for the jubilee, they took Michelangelo’s Pieta for restoration. It is replaced with a replica. Bernini’s Baldachin in the Basilica is covered up in scaffolding, hidden from view. Those are probably the 2 main attractions in the Basilica.