So today was a marathon. We had an all day tour of the Vatican. This included the Vatican Museum, Garden tour, train ride to Castel Gandolfo (Pope’s summer palace), tour of the gardens in Gandolfo, lunch at the gardens, tour of the castle, and train ride back to Rome. Okay, it was a lot. So much in fact that we are going back to the Vatican on Monday in order to see the museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s properly – if that’s even possible. But the trip to Gandolfo is rare, only offered on Saturdays, and has only been open to the public since October of 2016. Up until then it has been a Papal retreat.
We took the metro to the stop recommended to get to the Vatican and got off in the early morning darkness. We’d allowed quite a bit of time before our 8am ticket in order to find the entry. Rome is not a great city to try to get around in. Maps are non existent in metro stations or bus stops, street signs are suggestions, and not consistently placed. For a city that sees thousands of tourists, the vendors and shop owners are not at all interested in helping with directions. This morning was typical. We asked where the Vatican was, and the street vendor waved an arm vaguely and said ‘that way’. We went ‘that way’. What he neglected to say was ‘that way’ about 20 feet, then turn right. We headed ‘that way’ several blocks, and essentially circled a large Carbinari (scary police with big guns) complex. When there was nobody else around except another group of lost tourists, we knew we were in the wrong place. We backtracked, and made the turn, and headed toward the Vatican. 40 minutes of walking had now elapsed.
We finally reached a road that clearly led to St Peter’s square, but couldn’t find anything that resembled a line. As Sharon said, just because you have reservations, doesn’t mean you don’t stand in line. You just stand in a shorter line. We finally stopped and asked a Swiss Guard (in their really nifty Renaissance style uniforms-these a solid blue for daily use). He was the first really helpful Roman we’ve found. As usual, we were in the wrong place. Now we backtracked yet again and made a left turn along a huge wall, and headed for the museum. After a hike, we were directed to the lane on the right. This was the quick line. By now it was 8am, time for our reservations and still hadn’t come close to the front door. However, now, we were surrounded by helpful people in suits (Vatican employees) that assured us we were fine. We reached the end of the line, milled around in a courtyard for a moment until we realized it was our turn to head for the door, and did just that. Once inside, after getting help from two different people, we made it too our tour meeting point.
At the meeting point, we were given two stickers – one with a green train (All Day Vatican Tour) and another violet with a white train. We were told to wear these all day. Turns out this set the time schedule for each group. Green was the first group to tour the Gandolfo Gardens, and Violet was for our lunch. We were then turned loose in the museum with an audio guide and told where the meeting point was for the train.
I’m not going to say much about the museum. We are visiting again Monday to really see it and St Peter’s. We didn’t even try to cover much inside the museum today as it really wasn’t possible. We wandered, and made our meeting time for the train ride.
First off, the entire Vatican is much smaller than I expected. It’s only 108 acres all together. I really expected it to be much, much bigger. The second thing is that the Vatican Garden tour was a walking tour to the train station. Up to the top of Vatican Hill, and back down again. Neither of us expected a major hike, but that was what it was. It was something to see, and beautifully tended, and the audio guide explained what we were seeing. (Pictures below are from the Vatican Garden).
We boarded the train at the Vatican Train Station, a private platform that joined the main tracks at St Peitro Station, and we headed out of town for an hour trip to Castle Gandalfo. By this time, neither of us had any idea where we were going, or where this was. It was nice to sit, and see some of the countryside. One amazing thing I saw was while looking out the window was a wall that had been angling towards us for quite sometime. It was awhile before I realized it was the remains of an ancient Roman aqueduct wall. It met the tracks and it paralleled us for a while. It was really something to see, with the crumbling brick and patched stone. It was so amazing to think of the engineering that went into it, and it’s great age.
We began to climb and soon, we were seeing incredible views of Rome below us. We were stopped to wait for another train, and I could see the cliffs behind a town that had clearly been quarried at some point. The straight cuts running high up the walls, and deep cuts into the 4-5 story cliffs with dense vegetation on top.
As we climbed, we could see a deep lake below us. Sharon read up on it. And found out that it was the cone of an extinct volcano. The Papal Summer Palace and many villas were built right on the edge, providing incredible 360 degree views.
The weather, which had been gray most of the day, added wind to the mix. Part of that may have been that we were right on the knife edge of the ridge, with nothing to block it. The clouds, dark thunderheads, were moving fast above us, and the wind whistled everywhere, blowing the vegetation wildly.
The gardens were filled with all kinds of mature plants, and an amazing number of Roman ruins. Since much of Roman has been inhabited for thousands of years, this isn’t unusual. Some ruins were featured, others just part of the landscape. We toured the gardens in an electric bus, up long straight roads to terraces allowing plantings on many levels. I found out that the tree I’d been seeing so much of – a tall trunk with the foliage up at the top, flattened out – was an Evergreen called the Maritime Pine. You see it everywhere in Rome.
The gardens are peaceful and tranquil (aside from the wind!). Many of the plantings are very, very old. There is one Magnolia that is over 100 years old, and huge. It must have a diameter at the bottom of at least 30 feet, and was 2-3 stories tall. We also went through the farm area, full of animals. Hundreds of chickens, cows, pigeons, and even donkeys. The estate is self sustaining. The huge coops for the chickens are the size of a playhouse, and feature tile accents with chickens painted on them! Cows are also up near one of the elaborate fountains where the pope would often rest. These are not your typical Renaissance gardens. Besides, there is also a helipad. Across the lane from the animals. That should be interesting.
Lunch consisted of anti pasta, pasta, fruit and wines, all from the Papal farms. It was cooked by the Papal chef, and was wonderful. Simple fare, with wonderful, bold flavors. The hit of the luncheon was playing with a cat that came in for attention. Sharon and many of the other lunch goers were obliging the papal gatto, but the poor hostess kept trying to shoe him away. No such luck. Cats everywhere know a sucker when they see them, whatever language they speak.
We were then let off to explore the small town (called Castel Gandolfo), and the Pope’s palace, which is actually named the Apolostic Palace. This included some of the papal vehicles (including a Popemobile), and gallery of papal portraits, and a tour of the residential apartments. These apartments were amazing. The views were spectacular – as the palace is right on the very top of the ridge, and has unobstructed views in all directions. The sound of the wind was amazing from that vantage point as well, with nothing to break it in any direction. Decoration was simple, but very elegant. Very Georgian in style. And the Pope’s bedroom was also on the simple side – a normal, double brass bed. As well as two elegant, very old Bombay chests.
We explored the town some, then caught a shuttle down to the train station, and our ride back to the St Peitro station in Rome. Basically we were dumped off at that station. No metro anywhere close. This was so typical of this tour. The guides did a great job of herding the groups from place to place (based on your colored sticker), but communication was next to nothing. No directions about how we were to get from place to place.
It was 6:30pm, the rain which had held off all day was beginning to fall, and we had no idea about how to get back to our hotel. I was beginning to think cab, but was so tired I couldn’t even think about how to call one. Sharon talked to the lady at the desk, and got us tickets from St Peitro Station, to the main train station in Rome right by us, Terminus Station, for 1 Euro each. Cheaper than the metro! I think it cost them more to print the ticket than the fare they received.
As we took the train back to the Terminus Station, the rain opened up. And stopped as we got off. Again, although we were in the correct train station, it was so large, we had no idea where we were. After some fumbling around, we to got to the front and found our way home.
Tomorrow we have tickets to the Borghese Gallery at 11am. We’re both thinking about just getting a cab. This place is hard to get to, and is off the beaten path, and by the time I researched transportation, it will be well worth it!
Oh, and the time changes tonight. good thing, we could use an extra hour of sleep.
Below: Four pictures of detail from the Apostolic Palace.
Suzanne’s Travels 