{"id":2082,"date":"2016-05-22T18:49:53","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T01:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2082"},"modified":"2016-05-23T09:36:23","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T16:36:23","slug":"take-a-unique-trip-to-vatican-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/courses-and-travel\/2082\/take-a-unique-trip-to-vatican-city","title":{"rendered":"Take a Unique Trip to Vatican City"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few words of warning! St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, at Vatican City, in Rome, was very near a recent \u201cTravelers\u2019 Choice\u201d list of the \u201cWorld\u2019s Most Beloved Landmarks\u201d – well ahead of the Eiffel Tower, for instance, which did not crack the top-10. Beware, though, if you\u2019re considering a bucket-list visit to the world\u2019s largest church: the lines to get into the basilica, and the adjacent Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums reflect the high level of interest and are usually blocks long. ICBellagio.com<\/a>, though, saves you literally hours of wait time by providing \u201cfront of the line\u201d access through their customized Vatican private tours.<\/p>\n

Piera, our guide, wearing white, round sunglasses and a smile, met us just outside the Vatican entrance at the arranged time of our choosing: 2:45 in the afternoon since our flight into Rome landed at noon. We\u2019d literally hit the holy ground running since ICBellagio.com\u2019s guide and driver saved us time and confusion by gathering our luggage and sweeping us quickly out of Fiumicino International Airport and to the Hotel Mediterraneo just a block from Rome\u2019s train station. We had time to check in, freshen up, and take in the sweeping view of the Eternal City and Vatican City from the hotel\u2019s rooftop restaurant and patio.<\/p>\n

\"PHOTO

Large groups waiting in long lines outside Ristorante Paolo on their way into the Vatican.<\/p><\/div>\n

Once Piera (the Italian female name for Peter, ironically) led us inside the Vatican, we realized how blessed we were to have arranged the private tour. Large groups of 20 tourists were trudging through the passageways struggling to hear and keep up with guides toting colored pennants on sticks so they could be seen above the throngs. By contrast, ICBellagio.com\u2019s Piera, guiding just the two of us, asked us, as we made our way through hundreds of years of priceless artwork, \u201cDo you want the short version or the long one?\u201d We opted for the breezier tour and loved the way she customized the tempo of our three-hour visit on the fly by determining our interest and endurance. We even took a break on a bench in the courtyard for conversation. \u201cI have the greatest job imaginable,\u201d said Piera, who displayed a fresh passion for the Vatican glories she\u2019d easily seen hundreds of times.<\/p>\n

One other cautionary tale: just outside the entrance to the Vatican Museums across the street from the long lines, you\u2019ll see the appealing sidewalk seating of \u201cRistorante Paolo,\u201d shaded with green awnings emblazoned with the words \u201cbar-breakfast-pizza-ice cream\u201d and a sign advertising \u201cmarghertia pizza for 5.80 Euro.\u201d A sit-and-snack looked and sounded like a good idea to us\u2026until the bill came. Buyer beware: the up-selling began as soon as we sat down, when the waiter steered us away from the margherita pizza in favor of pizza paolo for 12.80. He also charged for water and for the unasked-for bread basket he\u2019d placed on the table.<\/p>\n

Though I ordered the Chianti Classico for 7.50, he brought, and charged for, Montepulciano d\u2019Abruzzo Masciarelli, for 12.00, instead. When I pointed this out, he shrugged and asked, \u201cIt was good, though, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d (Which was beside the point.) After a12-percent service charge was tacked on the total bill was 46.37 Euro. I didn\u2019t mind, though, during the lunch, tipping the strolling Roman accordion player who sang Italian songs, but be prepared otherwise because Rome is full of aggressive foreigners aggressively selling trinkets.<\/p>\n

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at\u00a0<\/em>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 His talk show can be heard weekday mornings in\u00a0Lansing\u00a0on 92.1 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few words of warning! St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, at Vatican City, in Rome, was very near a recent \u201cTravelers\u2019 Choice\u201d… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1749,15,976706,998804],"class_list":["post-2082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courses-and-travel","tag-italy","tag-europe","tag-pope-francis","tag-vatican-city"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2016\/05\/VaticanLine1-640.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2082"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2086,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082\/revisions\/2086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}