Erinomainen opas sai historian heräämään henkiin!

Kierros ei kattanut koko Vatikaania, mutta itselleni ainakin ne tärkeimmät: Raffaellon maalaukset, entisaikojen paavien asumukset sekä tietenkin Sikstuksen kappelin ja Michelangelon mestariteokset kaikessa upeudessaan. Oppaamme Julia oli aivan mahtava, hän kertoi maalauksista tarkkoja yksityiskohtia ja avasi sitä myöten niiden taakse kätkeytyvää historiaa: paavien vallanhimoa sekä taiteilijoiden mahtipontisuutta ja jopa kostonhimoa. Kuvat seinillä kertoivat taiteilijoiden, paavien ja mesenaattien keskinäisistä kahnauksista ja suhteista enemmän kuin voitaisiin olettaakaan... ilman opasta nämä merkittävät nyanssit olisivat ehdottomasti jääneet huomaamatta, ellei ole taidehistoriaan entuudestaan kovin perehtynyt. Suosittelen lämpimästi opastettua kierrosta!

Pick up point easy to find, as was the guide. Our guide Vivien was excellent, very knowledge, a wee bit of humour thrown in too. The museum was heaving so you need to keep an eye on your guide/group. So much to see and try and take in but if you go early enough you can stay in after your guided tour and revisit bits you might want to spend more time there. Write down what you want to see, we forgot to go back to see the Pope mobile museum and a couple of other places. Skip the queue was a godsend as the queue was huge but it was Easter weekend after all

Our guide, Ettore (I hope I spelled that right) was the best guide that we had so far on our trips around the world, he was funny, relaxed, speaks great English so we understood everything and he was really passionate while explaining us Vatican Museums. I am so glad that we have taken this tour and would do it million times more. Also, organisation of the tour was really good, we managed to find meeting point without problem and we didn’t wait in lines and it was Easter. Groups were not too big and we received audio guides so everyone could hear Ettore. We definitely recommend it :)