By the way, the queue to get in here is incredibly long! It goes round several blocks/streets and then some. By any standards of queues anywhere else we’ve been, it’s long!
I can’t speak to how fast the queue moves though (maybe it moves fast enough to make it not so tedious for those on it) because thankfully, Lloyd had the foresight (told you he had been here before) to book our tickets online in advance.
Thankfully, we’d left the rather beautiful St Peter’s Basilica just on time to catch our allotted entry time.
We went straight to the front of the queue (a separate one for pre-booked tickets) and went in pretty much straight away which was something of a small mercy considering how hot it was outside too.
And with that, we proceeded to explore the Vatican Museums, making our way through it to the Sistine Chapel.
Partway through, we saw a sign that said something along the lines of “Long Way or Short Way”, each one pointing to different paths and, seeing as it was my first time here, I decided to opt for the Long Way through.
The Long Way here is LONG! It’s fairly crowded so you move quite slowly but it was just perfect for me as a first-time visitor here. I wanted to see and do it all and not miss a single moment of it.
The whole museum is extensive and absolutely gorgeous.
I want to attempt to explain some of what we saw but truth be told, there’s no way I could even do that for all of it. We’d be at this for ages (plus there’s so much here there was some stuff I had to quickly gloss over or risk still being in the Vatican two weeks later attempting to ‘read it all’.)
So in lieu of that, let me show you around the Vatican in something of a photo diary.
One of my favourite things here is how detailed the roofs are! It’s just such an incredible display of artistry and is so beautiful.
Of course the main masterpiece everyone’s here to see (and in fact, the Long or Short sign I saw earlier was actually move like ‘Long Way to the Sistine Chapel’ or ‘Short Way to the Sistine Chapel’).
The Sistine Chapel is absolutely amazing!
It can get a bit crowded in there but coming from London where a commute to work at rush hour can sometimes leave you in almost a passionate embrace with a stranger due to lack of space on the tube, I’m actually pretty fine with crowds.
Leaving the chapel we made our way back through the intricately designed and rather beautiful hallways…
…stopping off to check out parts of the Vatican we’d somehow not seen yet
…before slowly making our way towards the exit.
As you leave, be sure to check out the grand stairs from the top. It’s quite the masterpiece and definitely worth taking in from that vantage viewpoint.
And with that, we bade the Vatican farewell. Rome thus far had been proving to be everything I’d hoped it would be and I just couldn’t wait to explore even more of it!
Check Out The Very Best Of Great Britain!
