We are visiting the Vatican for a few hours and we probably won't have a guided tour. Can someone outline the not to miss highlights and what order to view them in? This is a silly question but is there a line for each place of interest to buy tickets or do you buy one ticket to visit everything?

Karen, there's one ticket for everything in the Vatican museums, but St. Peter's is free. It's hard to pick out anything particular in the museums, there's so much there. If you're really interested in Greek and Roman artifacts, etc. you should buy a guide book before you go in--all the inscriptions in the museum are in Italian. You have to go alllllllll the way through most of the Vatican Museum to get to the Sistene Chapel. When you get about 2/3 of the way through, there's kind of a fork in the road. You can skip the " Borghese??? " apartment and some additional artwork and go straight to the chapel if you want. When you get to that point, turn right instead of left, unless you want to go through the whole thing. When you're leaving the Sistene Chapel, go out to the right again (the tour group exit)--that's a short-cut to St. Peter's square. One other piece of advice. Go to the Sistene Chapel before you go to St. Peter's. St. Peter's is so magnificent, that if you go there first, the Sistene Chapel is kind of a disappointment (at least it was for me).

Thanks Peggy, I will print out your post and take it with me so I don't take the wrong fork!

Karen,
You do not need a guided tour to visit the Vatican ..
the most amazing things you already know what you have to see...bring a small compact mirror for Michaelangelo..
and,maybe this site will help
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

Karen, we did have a guide for the Vatican Museum. She made us break in line. I was so embarrassed. The people behind us kept saying, "you broke in line." I looked straight ahead and ignored them. Not a proud moment.

The one thing I remember from the Sistine Chapel: it's sooooo crowded, very hard to see. This is one place where a money belt comes in handy. Our guide kept reminding us to watch our personal belongings, perfect place for a pickpocket.

I loved St. Peter's Basilica, it's amazing!

that is also where the mirror comes in handy.. you hold it in front of you and aim it up at the ceiling.. and save your neck

Claudia -

What a great idea! Thanks - it's now on my packing list!

Karen, I will piggy back on your posts, I am doing a land trip end of October to mid Nov. All the questions you are asking are perfect for my trip too!

Karen & Kathy - if you can figure it out (and you might need a guide for this), see if you can get into the scavi as part of your trip to the Vatican. Your guide turns you over to a seminary student who walks you through the scavi. It takes about 45 mins to an hour. Our student was from Western Pennsylvania.

St. Peter's is built on top of an ancient Roman cemetery. Those cemeteries are literally arranged as cities for the deceased. They then take you back up and into the tombs for the popes over the last 300 years or so.

I've often thought I'd do a Dan Brown type of tour next time in Rome. I'd walk through some of the routes in "Angels and Demons" or "The DaVinci Code".

Cheers, Anne

Anne, that is so funny as I have thought that it would be fun to do a Dan Brown tour, too!

If you liked the Da Vinci code, you might want to check out my favorite authors new book, "Map of Bones".



You can read an excerpt here. Two of my absolute all time favorite books are from this author, "Excavation" and "Amazonia". These are rip roaring Indiana Jones style archaeological adventures. Both of these will keep you on the edge of your seat and they are just pure fun.

Karen,

The lines to buy tickets for the entrance to Vatican museums can be extremly long. When we went to Rome last year our italian Limo driver suggested that we go at lunch time. This seemed counterintuitive to us since most people suggest to go first thing in the AM( although then they'll tell you they had to wait in line for 45min to over an hour!).

We followed our driver's advice , arrived around 1PM and there was NOBODY in front of us to buy tickets. That was unbelievable as we had driven twice by the Vatican on prior days in the AM on our way to other places and the line snaked all the way around to Saint Peters!

In the Vatican museums also allow time for the Raphael stanzas( rooms) with his magnificent mural paintings. These are on the way to the Sistine chapel. As mentioned before, everything is on the way to the Sistine chapel.

In St. Peter's basilica don't miss when you walk in, on your right, the beautiful sculpture of the Pietá , by Michelangelo( my favorite, even more than his David). It has a glass panel in front of it because years ago a maniac hit it with a hammer!! Thankfully the damage wasn't major and they were able to repair it.

If you have a guide have him/her buy the tickets for you in advance.....
a thought ..

We got a guide right at the Vatican. It was worth it.

You just go up to the ticket window and get a Vatican guide. No need to do it on your own. THe guide pointed out the history behind all the highlights and ensured we didn't miss anything. You can do St. Peter's by yourself.

Karen
There is an Angels & Demons tour:

http://www.angelsanddemons.it/dan_brown.asp

and a Da Vinci Code tour:

http://davincicodetours.co.nz/
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/09/11/news_pf/Artsandentertainment/Take__The_Da_Vinci_Co.shtml

Oh Betty, how wonderful! Thanks for the links!

Who is this James Rollins guy? Thats my maiden name, and my Uncle is "Jim" as is his son -- I don't think either of them wrote this book, I'm sure I would know - but wow - isn't it interesting when you come across your own name in a very unusual place? :D

JoAnn
Is this your uncle?

http://www.jamesrollins.com/about.htm

Karen here is a the website for Vatican.. if you click on the online tour you can see what the "high lites are"
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

Very cool website, thanks Claudia!

siete molto benvenuti Karen

p.s. some website emailed me this a few days ago and it just cracked me up.. and may come in handy for your trip to a Rome restaurant...

________________________________________ :D
A few things you'll want to know how to say in Italian:
I’m going to eat pounds of fresh pasta.
Lo mangero' kili di pasta fresca.

Pile on the hearty sauce.
Con abbontante e denso sugo.

This isn’t good for me? Baloney!
Cio', non e' buono per me? Stupidaggini

Just another suggestion for viewing the Sistine's ceiling, in addition to the compact mirror to save your neck. We used binoculars to see all the amazing details. I think it's worthwhile to take the binocs if you have a small pair. If not, you can just use the mirror. And there may be someone who has binocs who would let you use them for a second for an up close view.
I know you will enjoy all Rome has to offer. Try to get to the Coliseum if you have time.
Enjoy,
JP

I'll second what cruiseluv says about going in the afternoon. We hired Claudio's limo service for a tour of Rome, and Claudio took us to the Vatican in the afternoon to miss the lines --- and we encountered none. Our tour took us past the Vatican entrance in the AM and the lines were bad! The reason for this, I think, is that the Vatican presents a case of "sensory overload" wherein to REALLY see it it would take at least a full day --- if not two. When you go in the PM, all you get is sort of a "sampling" of what is there.

Thanks,
Richard