In November 2013, we spent five days in Rome and we scheduled one day for a re-visit of the Vatican City, namely the St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums. Both sites are crowded with tourists throughout the year, thus I would recommend to purchase the ticket for the museums online and to visit St. Peter's Basilica either early in the morning or in the evening shortly before closing time.

We arrived at St. Peter's Square at quarter to seven. Before entering the basilica you have to pass a security check, similar to the check at an airport. But there are no queues early in the morning, there were only about 20 other people. St. Peter's impresses by its size, the huge dome, the interior decoration, and its famous artworks, it is the centre of Christianity and therefore it should not be missed. But to be honest, I am not very excited about the basilica, there are a lot of cathedrals on the WH list, that impressed me much more. The access to the apse is restricted to guided groups, but we were lucky, the security guard thought that we belong to a group of German tourists, and we were allowed to pass through the barrier. So we could take a closer look at Bernini's baldacchino and the Cathedra Petri. But my favourite work of art in St. Peter's is the Pietá by Michelangelo.

The highlight of our visit to St. Peter's was the dome. It opens at 8 a.m., the entrance fee is 5 euro for 550 steps on foot (two euro more if you take the elevator up to the terrace, but then there are still 320 steps to walk). The staircase is very narrow in some parts, particularly the section that runs between the two dome walls, but it provides interesting insights into the static construction. And the efforts to climb the 550 steps are rewarded by the wonderful panoramic view of St Peter's Square and the Vatican Gardens. The photo shows the Vatican Museums with the Sistine Chapel in the foreground.

After we left St. Peter's Basilica, we had still time for an espresso before we had to meet our time-slot for the Vatican Museums at 11 a.m. It was very convenient to book the tickets online, we could go past the long queues and it took only a few minutes to swap our voucher for the real tickets. Be aware that the museums are always full of tourists, but do not let this deter you, a visit is worthwhile. My recommendations for a relaxing visit: take your time, find your own pace, wait for gaps between the guided groups, then you will be able to properly view everything of interest and also to take nice photos. My highlights were the statues in the Cortile Ottagono (eg the famous Laocoon group), the Gallery of Maps (where I probably spent most of the time) and the magnificent paintings in the Raphael Rooms.

Of course, every visitor also goes to the Sistine Chapel, I was there twice, but both times I was rather disappointed. It is a odd experience. You stand there crowded together with hundreds of other visitors, looking at the ceiling at these famous frescoes, such as The Creation of Adam, and every twenty seconds, the penetrating voice of a security guard yells "no photos" and "silence please", quite strange, because this is by far the loudest noise in the chapel. The Sistine chapel is the only part of the museums, where it is not allowed to take photos, probably because it is a chapel, but certainly nobody gets religious or spiritual feelings. The paintings are difficult to see in detail, because the ceiling is very high, the best would be to use a pair of binoculars.

One day is enough to visit the smallest country in the world, but if you have less time, I would skip St Peter's Basilica in favour of the Vatican Museums.