A tour of the Vatican can take most of the day, and it is absolutely worth it. When there, the grottos underneath the main floor of St. Peter's Basilica should not be missed. Many people probably do not even know it is possible to visit the grottos and see the tombs of so many past Popes there, including St. Peter himself.
But another opportunity exists that many people may not know about…climbing the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica itself. I was unaware of the mere possibility of climbing a dome. How was that possible? Are there stairs? Where is the walkway? There are no visible paths on the outside of the dome, so where would we go?
Like many domes you can climb, the dome itself is actually two domes. The walkways, staircases, and halls lie between the inner and outer domes. How weird it was to walk in a narrow hallway where both walls were curved above my head. How strange to climb multiple spiral staircases to ascend higher and higher. The first photo op came when we emerged at the bottom of the dome for a bird’s eye view (an inside-dwelling bird) of the Basilica floor and the main altar. From this vantage point, you can gain an even greater admiration for the mosaics and artwork of the dome’s ceiling, since you are so much higher and closer to it. After taking photos, we continued onward and upward. And without a clear understanding of how we got there, we emerged outside close to the top of the dome itself for an amazing 360-degree view of the Vatican and Rome! An added bonus was seeing the backs of the famous statues of the saints that line the front of the Basilica.
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