Roaming through Rome, Day 6 - 28/12/18 - Vatican City and Eataly

Today, we went to see the Vatican. It is one of those things in Rome that you can't miss, but I found it too crowded. It was hard to find space to take a picture of some things. After that, I went to Eataly, another place in Rome I had read about online and wanted to check out!


We took the underground to Vatican. We hadn't used Rome's metro yet, as we hadn't needed to use it to get anywhere. It isn't the biggest metro system, as every time people try and extend it, they find something archeological which halts the entire thing. But it was an ideal way for us to get to the Vatican and a way to see a different part of Rome.

I love underground systems - I think they give you a real good look at how a city works! Tourists use it, locals use it and it's
very much the 'blood vessels' of a city!

In the interests of full disclosure, we did get stopped as soon as we got off the underground by a tour guide. He promised us a queue jump tour, which we took as the the queue was long. This was with a company called SPQR - Special Quality Rome Tours. They do have mixed reviews on TripAdvisor, but on the day we went they were actually fantastic. Even for me who prefers to 'look around things at my own pace' because the Vatican really isn't somewhere where you can do this.

Front of St Peter's Basilica, also maybe this shot will give you some idea of the number of people.

I really liked these fountains, especially the way the light bounced off this one!

I did my usual thing of noticing parts of a museum that no-one else sees. There was a very interesting Christmas tree set up, decorated with handicrafts from parts of Mexico! I had my eye out, but I was disappointed to see they didn't have more of these.

"Christmas tree decorated with the most representative handicrafts from the state of Tamaulipas. The decorations were selected with the objective of expressing the artistic, cultural and artisanal identity of Tamaulipas. They have been crafted with organic materials and decorated with the design of the grecas which are a characteristic of the most iconic garment of the state: The Cuera Tamalipeca."

In the middle of a courtyard, there was this large, rotating ball. I loved the juxtaposition of something new here.

From out of a window in the Vatican, we saw this view!

Some of the flooring and ceilings were beautiful - very ornate and detailed!

My favourite corridor had these topographic maps of different parts of the world running down the length of it!

And this picture was taken from inside St. Peter's Basilica. You may not get the sense of how much walking and standing around that went on in the Vatican, so at this point I just wanted to sit down.

Next, I hopped on the underground and made my way to Eataly! It was amazing. If you're ever doing a food-based tour of Italy and you're not coming here, you're making a mistake. There are proper fresh fruit and vegetables, other basic groceries, Italian brands of pasta, biscuits and crisps, restaurants and food stands. I really wish I'd gone there at a different point, so that I had more time to both properly look around and sample more food.

Since I was pretty hungry and dead on my feet, I went to one of the first places I saw and had some friend pecorino romano.

This was a proper little pick-me-up! The best comfort food I didn't know I needed.

There was so much in Eataly I wanted to try. In fact, I regretted eating so much so soon and not leaving room for some of the other delicious things I saw. There was pizza, cannoli, fried nocchi, pattiserie, gelato...

After the cheese, the next thing that caught my eye was a soup seller, who let me sample his soups - pumpkin, quinoa, vegetable and chickpea!

I couldn't not have a bowl of this delicious chickpea soup. It was rich, creamy and comforting. The seller also dressed it up with some spices, croutons and olive oil!

Another thing I regretted was not bringing back more of the packaged foods for home. Still, I did buy some pasta for next door as a thank you for keyholding, and a few boxes of biscuits for work!

Now for dinner, Dad decided he wanted Chinese. It's his favourite cuisine, and I have learnt a long time ago not to argue with him when he wants a Chinese. After what I'd just ate, I wasn't overly hungry anyway. So we asked the concierge for recommendations and they suggested a place quite close by.

I just had salt-and-pepper chicken and a few small helpings of the rice.

I slept well that night, after all that walking and eating! The next day was going to be our last full day in Rome.

Purchases of the day - pasta and two boxes of biscuits. The biscuits were very nice, somewhere in between a shortbread and a macaron in texture!