Vatican City

Vatican City, the center of the Catholic church, is the smallest independent country in the world.

St. Peter’s Square - Pope’s Angelus Blessing

St. Peter’s Basilica

Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel

St. Peter’s Square - Pope’s Angelus Blessing

St. Peter's Square is super easy to access, you just walk right in. There is security check for Sunday Angelus.

There's a fountain in the middle of the square. It's called a square, but is really a circle.

Lots of people... looks like we're not the only ones wanting to see the Pope.

There he is!

The flag under the window marks the window from which he speaks.

St. Peter's Basilica next to the square is the source of the square's name.

There's no border per se between Vatican and Rome, just a mobile barrier during Sunday Angelus.

We attended Sunday Angelus at Vatican City and saw the pope!

Voyagers tips: There are two ways to see the pope without special access: Wednesday Papal Audience (easy to get tickets) and Sunday Angelus (no tickets required). We chose the Sunday Angelus, which is held at noon. There is a website to check his availability, be sure to check it before showing up.

St. Peter’s Basilica

The entire church is so immaculate.

Lots of visitors.

Pontifical Swiss Guards protect the Pope and the Apostolic Palace.

The climb up to the dome was fun. You can buy tickets next to the basilica and go right up.

Once you get to the base of the dome, you walk across to the other side for the next stage of the climb. This is a great spot to get a close-up view of the ceiling.

Looking down from the base of the dome.

The walls start slanting in due to the shape of the dome.

The higher we climbed, the more slanted the walls.

There's a rope towards the end to help people steady their footing.

We made it to the top!

360 view from up here.

Looking down at St. Peter's Square.

This part seems to be the private part of Vatican City not open to the public.

We come back down into the basilica.

This is probably the grandest church we’ve ever seen. The beauty and the details at every inch of the church is stunning. The climb up to the dome was a fun experience.

Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel

We walked around Vatican City's walls to get to the museum entrance.

Got to the entrance!

A dizzying amount of art collection inside the museum.

The paintings inside the Sistine Chapel is breath-taking.

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There are supposedly over 200 animals in this painting. We lost count.

There was a special Egyptian exhibit when we visited.

There was a treasure hunt game for the kids to locate certain pieces of art. It was a great way to keep the kids engaged.

Julius Caesar statue.

We stepped out to the courtyard after the rain stopped.

The spiral staircase back down is a signature photo op of the museum.

Looking up from the bottom of the staircase.

A whopping six million visitors come to the Vatican Museum each year. The sheer size and massive art collection is overwhelming. Sistine Chapel, located inside the museum, is breath-taking.

Voyagers tips: Be sure to pre-book tickets online to bypass the long queue. We booked an early spot at 9:30am in November and got in in less than 10 minutes. It was still crowded inside though. Get an audio guide if you’re not doing a tour, it’s super helpful, especially inside the Sistine Chapel.