Thursday – May 14, 2026 – Civitavecchia (Rome)
The featured photo today is NOT of the Sistine Chapel – even though that is the title of the post. For security reasons, visitors are not allowed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel or the hallway leading from it to St. Peter’s Square. The closest I could come with a photo was the exit from that hallway. At least you can see a Swiss guard in uniform with a spear and sword. One of the members of our tour group thought the guard was a statue and approached to touch him. As she drew close the guard said “Don’t touch” in a loud voice. It startled the woman – and most of us near her. The guards stand motionless like the guards at Buckingham Palace in London.
This is the last day we will see Yvonne and Carl and fortunately their disembark time wasn’t until after noon so we had a chance for one last breakfast as a group of 8. On the way out of the restaurant we found the captain standing near an elevator and talked with him for a short time. I think he was on his way to the gangway to bid farewell to the passengers disembarking here.
Our excursion today is 9 hours long – 3 of those are the time it takes to drive to and from Rome. The other time will be spent sitting in a bus for a short city tour and out of the bus for free time at St. Peter’s Square and touring some of the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. On the way to Rome we saw the sculpture titled “Kissing in Memory of a Port” in the Civitavecchia harbor.
Once in Rome we saw some familiar sights – a gate to the city wall, ruins of an aqueduct, Circus Maximus, the Colosseum, Tiber River, many statues and finally the entrance to the underground parking near St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. We walked a short distance from the bus to St. Peter’s Square where our guide set a meeting point from which we would tour museums in the afternoon.
We were given free time until 2:00 pm so we chose to spend it in the Square followed by lunch at a to-be-determined restaurant. We were in the Square when the bells of St. Peter’s began to ring at noon – and continued ringing until 12:15 (followed by short bursts of bells every 15 minutes). You’ll find photos from the Square and video that includes some of the bell ringing in the gallery.
We walked East on Via della Conciliazione (which leads from St. Peter’s Square to the Tiber River) half a block looking for a restaurant. A waiter invited us into a restaurant advertising “Pasta-Pizza-Wine”. We took a table, reviewed the menu and ordered a couple pizzas and drinks. The pizza was delicious and I had a drink new to me – a Hugo. It was very refreshing. There are photos from the restaurant in the gallery.
Following lunch, we spent a bit more time in St. Peter’s Square then walked to our assembly point for the museum tour. All the tour members were at the assembly point on time so Lucy could lead us to the museum entrance. To get to the entrance we had to walk along the 45-foot-tall wall on the North side of the Vatican. It took approximately 15 minutes to reach the entrance at which point Lucy gave each of us a ticket with a 2:30 entrance time. We went through 2 security checks – the first to verify we had a ticket and were entering at the correct time; the second was a magnetometer (walk through metal detector) and screening like TSA to be sure no dangerous materiel was entering the Vatican. Following those checks we went to a counter to pick up a receiver and earpiece so we could hear Lucy as she described each area we visited.
After taking an escalator up 2 floors, we came to a rooftop with a view of a garden on the right and the outside wall of a part of the museum on the left. Far in the distance on the left was the roof of the Sistine Chapel. On this rooftop were placards with information about the ceiling and walls of the Sistine Chapel. I included photos of the ceiling, Last Judgement and wall panels so you can see what is painted inside the chapel (as photos are not allowed). Of particular interest are the 3 center panels which depict the creation of Adam, the creation of Eve and Original Sin. Also included in the gallery is a closeup of the lower right portion of the Last Judgement. The man shown with donkey ears and snakes wrapped around him has the face of a Cardinal who was out of favor with the Pope at that time (late 1500’s). I don’t remember his name.
After several minutes to absorb the placards we began our walk into the museum. We passed through an area called the Pinecone Courtyard. It is a place used by popes to receive guests and includes a lawn and screened structure in the center with tables and chairs. It also has a sculpture that is a sphere within a sphere which rotates on a pivot attached to the bottom. Lucy pulled the outer sphere to show us how easily it rotates even though it is quite heavy.
The Vatican Museum is not one museum but a collection of museums dedicated to specific types of art. The first area we entered from the Pinecone Courtyard was the Chiaramonti Museum which has a long hall filled with statues on both sides. We ascended a flight of stairs and entered an area called Sala degle Animali which contained many statues of animals. There was a window area there which allowed us a view down Via Crescenzio.
The next area we entered was the Gallery of Statues. One statue was of particular note – the Lancoon. This work of art was excavated in Rome in 1506. The Hall of the Muses was next and contained statues and paintings including a painted ceiling. The Round Hall followed and more statues and a mosaic of tile in the floor.
We walked on to the Greek Cross Hall which contained two huge porphyry sarcophagi as well as what appeared to be Egyptian figures. Next we walked through the Gallery of the Candelabra with paintings on the ceiling and statues along the sides. Above a doorway we saw a bust of Pope Leo XIII. Lucy pointed out that this bust looks very much like the current pope – Leo XIV.
Next up on our walk was the Gallery of Tapestries. There was one tapestry depicting Christ’s resurrection where Jesus’ eyes appear to be looking at you from whatever angle you view it. I included 2 photos from left and right and it did appear he was looking at me.We continued walking and reached the first of 2 rooms comprising the Gallery of Geographical Maps. There are 5 photos from that area of the museums. The last room we viewed before continuing to the Sistine Chapel was the Room of the Immaculate Conception. The photo in the link shows more of the room but the photo in the gallery shows a better “head on” view.
After all the rooms and galleries we saw, I was not sure we would be overwhelmed by the Sistine Chapel. I was wrong. It is unfortunate I couldn’t take any photos while in the chapel, but you can find plenty of photos online of the ceiling and end wall work by Michelangelo and the wall paintings from other artists. The only way to really explain what it is like to see the works of art is to actually see them. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to paint those scenes – especially for a sculpture who didn’t want to paint. We entered through a door on the Northwest near the altar, spent 10-15 minutes admiring the artwork then departed through a door at the Southeast.
A long stairway led us from the level of the chapel to nearly the level of St. Peter’s Square. That stairway is part of the formal entry to the Vatican and is named Scala Regia. The designer of the stairway was Gian Bernini. His design makes the stairway appear longer than actual by using a couple architectural “tricks”. You can read more about the stairway by clicking on “Scala Regia” above. This area was also “off limits” for photos for security. Once we cleared the end of the stairway, I wanted some record of us having traveled there so I took a photo of people as they reached the end and included that photo in today’s gallery.
After our tour we had a few minutes to look around and shop. I used the time to snap a couple more photos then we visited a souvenir store near our assembly spot. We bought some books covering the Vatican, Rome and the Sistine Chapel – which I have used to identify all the areas of the Vatican museums we saw (there are plenty remaining we did not see). We walked to the bus in the underground parking and returned to the ship. Last item in today’s gallery is a time lapse video of our departure from Civitavecchia harbor – even caught a bit of the sunset colors in the sky.
You’ll find photos and videos here.
Leave a Reply