In my infinite wisdom in planning this trip, the only thing I had really thought through was when to visit the Vatican. Not on Sunday, and since it was one of the main goals, do it quick. Sunday, I thought, would be a great day for a stroll in the park and a visit to the museum in the park.
With google and the internet one would think that a traveller could take some time to check things out. Noooo, I woke up on Sunday morning and started to check what Museo e Galleria Borghese had to offer. Only advance bookings and none for Sunday. Well, I thought that might be just because I was trying to book for the same day for certain timeslots. We queued in Istanbul for about an hour in one place and got in. Not so at the Borghese, at least not on a Sunday….
This is what met us at the entrance.
Maybe next time…
So, we headed on to our next destination. A church. On a Sunday. So obviously there are a few masses going on, and since churches are a place of worship, we really don’t want to intrude on those doing their thing. It’s just bad manners.
The great thing about these churches was the fact that they had a schedule posted on the door. You could easily check out in which order to walk the neighbourhood and when to have a cup of coffee.
Our main goal was the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Vittoria. Those of you who have met Dan Brown, know why. The service had just started, so we walked a block or so to the Piazza della Repubblica and went for a cup of coffee, since mass had also started at the Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri which is right by the piazza. On the outside this church is nondescript and housed in what looks to be the remains of some ancient ruins.
After this short morning break, we headed for the main attraction, Santa Maria. It doesn’t look like much on the outside either, but true to form, absolutely magnificent artwork on the inside.
And on we went. It was around noon and we swung quickly by Fontana di Trevi. As I’ve said before, it’s a lot more beautiful during dark, so we continued pretty quickly and stopped for lunch.
We had completely forgotten that food should also be photographed. So this time we remembered. Basic Italian stuff. And tasting great.
The joys of life. Sailing. Travel. Food. 