There were storms the day we were booked to visit the Vatican. Grey sunlight followed by thunderous downpours. The cobblestones were slick with rain and the tourists in the queues were sodden.
Thank everything I had booked us on a tour – our wait in the queue was less than five minutes. Pre-booking was one of the best decisions we made on our trip.
Earlier that day we had been to a Capuchin crypt. They didn’t allow photos inside.
The statue of Laocoön and His Sons is attributed by the Roman author Pliny the Elder to three sculptors from the island of Rhodes: Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus. It shows the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being strangled by sea serpents.
The Belvedere Torso.
No photos in the Sistine Chapel.
Craig and I had booked for just the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel but at the end of the tour it turns out the guide can let you in the side entrance to St Peter’s Basilica.
We had decided to not bother, what with the thunder and lightening and queues and all, but this was excellent.
It is incredible to think that all the art is mosaic, there’s no paint involved.
List of the popes buried in the Basilica. There are a lot of them.
Michelangelo’s (finished) Pieta.
Breathtaking photos! I’ve never been there but I need to get myself there one day! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you! And definitely, it is just beautiful.
oooh, I’ve always wanted to go there! The only thing that has kept me so far, is my fear of places that are too touristy. Some day I’ll have to go, though. It looks just amazing.
Some places, thankfully, are beautiful enough that the tourists fade into the background.
Absolutely!