Sleep is getting a bit better, this jet lag thing usually lasts a few days until the body gets in sync with our new time zone. A bit of toss and turn, then the 6 am wide awake and then another hour to force yourself to get back to sleep, then complete crash until 9 am - so we are getting there. Another great breakfast with a couple of perfect, cafe Artigiano type cappuccinos, what a great way to begin the day. Today our excursion took us to the Castel Sant Angelo, a good 30 minute walk from the hotel. There are still a few sites we have yet to see in Rome and our good friend Joanne had recommended this place on a FB post a few days ago. We have walked past this Castle several times in the past never visiting it, so today was the day.
This castle was originally built back in the first century AD, the plaque on the way describes as follows:
This building owes its name to a medieval legend: in 590 the Archangel Michael appeared here before Pope Gregory the Great to announce the end of a plague.
In reality, its history dates back further than this. It was Hadrian, the Roman emperor, who commissioned its construction in the first century AD as a mausoleum, built to house his remains and those of his descendants: hence. It is also referred to Hadrian’s Mausoleum…
It went from being a tomb to an impenetrable fortress, from a prison to a magnificent Renaissance dwelling and from a barracks to a national museum.
Visiting Castel Sant’ Angelo, therefore, means retracing the entire history of Rome, the “Eternal City”, all in one go.
We got vey lucky here, we were told about getting reservations for a time slot online and that they only had certain time slots available etc… Well, when I google mapped it at about 1 pm it had indicated that it was not too busy at this time, so we left and meandered our way to the Castel, taking our time window shopping`and doing a bit of shopping along the way. I recall that there was a 3 pm entry window from the website and it was now about 2:40 pm. Hmmm, no line. We walked up and the attendant asked for our vaccination cards, the BC ones worked here, great. We went around the corner where another attendant checked our temperature, we were both good. I guy waved me over to the window and tickets were purchased and in we went, well pretty good so far. The tour of this museum does take a good 90 minutes and it is well worth it, especially the views from the top, all of Rome is at your feet, amazing. At about an hour in I was able to look down and noticed a huge line, hmm, we did pretty well then. At the end at about 4:30 pm when we left there were many people trying to get in only to be told that the rest of the day is sold out and to come back tomorrow. At this point the 5 pm line was beginning to form. So yeah, we did well.
From here we strolled down to the St. Paul’s cathedral for a pic or two before meandering back to the hotel which included more retail therapy as well as a bite to eat. Another great day spent here in Rome. Today it was about 20 degrees with the sun breaking out as we entered the view spot at the Castel, so all great. Some pics of the day, several parts once again, hope you enjoy…
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