[Europe] When in Rome, Visit Vatican

As a Catholic, i know a lot about Vatican. Vatican is the head of worldwide Catholic Church. Since i was a kid, every Christmas Day, i always watch Eucharistic celebration which led by the Pope, "live"  from Vatican. At that time i talked to myself, soon or later, i must go to Vatican. When i knew that i would go to (West) Europe for holiday, i put Rome in my itinerary so i could visit Vatican.

St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican (or you can call Vatican City), is the smallest country in the world, and it's located inside Rome. Vatican is a must place to go when you visit Rome. In Vatican, there are some popular places that you won't missed such as St. Peter Basilica, Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museum), and Sistine Chapel which also located inside Vatican Museum.

It was the second day for us to explore Rome, and we started it by visiting Vatican Museums. Vatican Museums is very popular among tourists. To visit this museum, you need a ticket which costs €16 pp. This ticket also included for Sistine Chapel. Like any other popular places, Vatican Museums always have a long queue. So i would suggest you to buy the ticket in advance by online to avoid the queue. There's an online booking fee which is €4, but i prefer to pay for that fee than queueing for more than an hour only to buy the ticket.

Long queue to Vatican Museums

First time i walked inside, i saw many art and historical sculpture in it. You can choose when you buy the ticket whether you want a guided tour or not to explain about everything in this museum. But we didn't choose with a guide because we only had a limited time. So we just follow the path from one room to another, until we reached our destination, Sistine Chapel.

Sistine Chapel is a chapel located inside the Vatican Museums. This chapel very famous because of its beautiful painted ceiling and The Last Judgement by Michaelangelo. Many people recommend to visit this place because it's amazing and we should see with our own eyes. And i'm agree!! Since the first time i walked into this chapel, i couldn't stop say "WOW" and feel amazed with it. It's the most wonderful chapel i ever seen. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to take photos. But i'm so glad to be here.

From Sistine Chapel, we followed the path again to the exit way. The exit way itself also has a painted ceiling which also looks amazing. Not just a paint, but there's also small sculpture between and it's so beautiful. Even if you see closer, every paint has a story in it. In this place, you'll find some people sell a souvenir about Vatican. As a people who always dream about Vatican, buy a souvenir about it is a mandatory for me.

It's been around 2 hours since we explored Vatican Museums. Now we'd go to the next place that located next to the museum, St. Peter's Basilica. St. Peter's Basilica is an Italian church located in Vatican. Actually, St. Peter's Basilica is connected with Vatican Museums. If you take a guided tour, you'll be led to the shortcut to reach St. Peter's Basilica from the museums. But, if you're not in tour, you need to exit first from the museum, and queuing again to go inside the church. You don't need to buy another ticket to go inside St. Peter's Basilica because it's free, even if you're not buy a ticket for Vatican Museums. But the line to the entrance is also extremely long, and it might be take around 1 hour.

Half of the long queue to St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world. When i stepped into the church, i just realized that every building on Vatican has a painted ceiling and it's so marvelous! Not just the ceiling, but the wall also has a beautiful paint on it. No wonder people say St. Peter's Basilica is the most beautiful church. The interior was amazing. There are sculptures everywhere, even above the door.

Detail of the ceiling at St. Peter's Basilica

Room for pray inside the church

If you want to see further, you can give a visit to Tomb of Saint Peter under the Basilica. But you need to pay for another ticket which is cost €13 pp, and you must make a reservation for that. I didn't go to there because i was going with my 5 years old daughter and she's not allowed to go inside there.

In front of St. Peter's Basilica

Well, that's all my experience while visiting Vatican, my dreamed place since i was a kid. It was a wonderful day for us, except the hot weather there. However, my trip in Rome hasn't done yet. Stay tune on my blog to see my next adventure in Rome..