When planning a trip to Rome, a visit to the Vatican is often considered a must-do. Because we could not visit it yesterday with Rome In Limo, we booked The Complete Vatican Tour with Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter’s Basilica (69 Euros / person) with Take Walks. And since the tour started at 9:45am and we still had to get to Rome, that meant that the day started early. Breakfast at 6:00am in the Garden Cafe and then we met Karen, Darlene, Paul, Jen, Terri and Dan off of the ship by 7:00am. This would give us forty-five minutes to get to the train station.
Once we got outside of the cruise terminal, there was some confusion regarding the shuttle buses. We had read that there was a free bus to Largo della Pace and from there you could take a city bus. Nik had told us that there should be a bus that goes directly to the train station for a few Euros. After about ten minutes of asking a bunch of people, we finally found the free shuttle bus to Largo della Pace. When we got off of the bus and started walking towards the train station, we quickly realized that we were going to miss our 7:44am train. But that was ok since the next one was at 7:58am. We had actually booked our train tickets back in July using Trainline and the cost for Nana and myself was 9.67 Euros which also included a 0.47 Euros booking fee. We learned that your train ticket has a four hour span. What that means is that if you ticket is for 7:44am, you have until 11:44am to use your ticket.
The train to Rome finally arrived and we settled in for the fifty-six minute train ride through the countryside. Roma San Pietro is the closest stop to the Vatican but it was still a thirty minute walk to our meeting point Antico Caffe Candia. Nana and I grabbed an Uber (13.80 Euros) while the rest of the gang hoofed it. The Take Walks people turned up around 9:30am and got people sorted out with the various guides. The eight of us joined forces with our guide Anna and then we proceeded to the entrance of Vatican City.
Vatican City is the world’s smallest country with a population of 764. Besides containing St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums, it has its own telephone and banking systems, post office, radio station and pharmacy. Vatican City is supported financially by donations, the sale of postage stamps and souvenirs and admission fees to the museums. Approximately forty thousand people a day visit the Vatican.
We spent the next three hours walking through the twenty-four galleries or rooms that make up the Vatican Museums. The most notable being the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take any photos or videos there.
Last time when Karen and I were here, we missed the exit that is a shortcut from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter’s Basilica. Therefore we never saw the inside of the basilica. That did not happen this time. As we stepped inside of the church, I was struck by the sheer size of it. It is the largest church in the world. There are markings on the floor to show you where other churches would end if they were placed inside. I wish we could have spent more than the hour we did because there is so much to see.
After a quick stop at the gift shop, it was off to St. Peter’s Square which can hold up to three hundred thousand people. It is also the site of the Papal Audience which happens on Wednesdays.
It was time to get some lunch before heading back to the train station. As we were walking away from St. Peter’s Square, I hear a voice say “STOP”. I turned around and who is it but Nik. He was waiting for his tour group to finish up at the Vatican. He asks what we are doing and I tell him we are headed for lunch. He asks to see where we are going and so I show him on the Google Maps. He shakes his head and then takes my phone and punches in the address of a restaurant near the train station. He then calls and says he is sending over eight people. We say thank you and good bye to Nik. Ten minutes later we arrive at Osteria dei Pontefici and are greeted with “Nik’s table is ready for you”. Now we were feeling special and that continued during the entire meal. From the outstanding service by the old school Italian gentlemen to the fabulous food (including the free bruschetta), this had to be the best meal I have ever had in Italy. The bill for the eight of us which also including some beer was a total of 131.50 Euros. Thanks again Nik for looking after us.
We were stuffed and lucky for us, it was only a two minute walk to the train station to catch our 3:30pm train. These tickets were also purchased back in July for the same price as this morning’s train. There were many people waiting on the platform so when the train arrived, most of us were able to get seats.
We arrived back in Civitavecchia around 4:20pm. The shuttle bus that would have taken us directly to the port was there but it was full. Some decided to walk back to Largo della Pace and catch the free shuttle from there. Karen, Nana, Darlene and I got a taxi for six euros each which was the same price as the bus that goes directly to the port.
As we were pulling into the port, Karen sees that the Celebrity Beyond is docked here as well. This ship’s captain is Kate McCue. She is the first American woman to be named a captain of a mega cruise ship. She and her cat Bug Naked have a huge social media following. We had an hour before dinner so ended up relaxing back at the cabins. We actually got to see the Celebrity Beyond leave port and we were trying to find Captain Kate on the bridge.
With it being Thanksgiving Day back at home, we booked dinner in the Manhattan Dining Room where Jon, Teresa, Donna, Marie, Brodie, Karen, Darlene, Nana, Dave, Cathy, Michael, Liam and I recounted today’s adventures. After dinner it was back to our balconies to come up with a strategy of how we were getting into Florence from Livorno which is where the ship will be docked for the next two days
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