Stop in Santorini Gr aboard Whisper June 18

Even the Vatican.

Ah, yes, there is something to be said about visiting the Vatican at 6:30a, along with a serene visit to the Sistine Chapel at 8:00a with only 25 souls allowed inside. As an aside, we're looking forward to a Scavi tour this June to visit the tomb of St. Peter in which we will make up one-third of the group of 12. Should be exceptionally wonderful.

The “keys opening tour” is a new inititative I posted about on CC recently, which we have yet to try, but you will still be with twelve people and pay a premium. I think it is something we’d like to do. We have two trips that start or end in Rome planned so might tag a few days on.

 

My approach is simpler and cheaper and gives the potential of some magic time without others. We ensure we are amongst the first in and instead of following the arrows on the presribed route we take the spiral way against the arrows to the top ie The Sistine Chapel. I have only been challenged once and I just said with smile that we had to catch a flight and didn’t want the whole tour but just to see the chapel and we proceeded. We normally have a wonderful half an hour in an empty extraordinary chapel to oursleves and then walk back in the reverse direction to the normal route. This way you aren’t with a noisy group and can pace yourself better.

 

We use the reverse route technique in many places we visit. :)

Driving "the reverse way" at the Grand canyon is a great example of having the Grand Canyon to yourself for half a day.

Driving "the reverse way" at the Grand canyon is a great example of having the Grand Canyon to yourself for half a day.

Haha! And a perfect way to freeze your fanny off when night falls and your stuck in the bottom until morning.

No, it's driving west to east when most start at the main facilities and drive east to west. Driving is the operative word here, something not done at the bottom of the Canyon.

As an aside to visiting Santorini I see that some 11 years after it sank the Greek government is now talking about raising the MS Sea Diamond again. They rejected the idea in 2011 because nobody wanted to pay the estimated 130 million Euro cost. No announced timeline or where the money is coming from but the Greek government decided this past October that the wreck was too much of an environmental and navigation risk and has to be removed.

We saved a lot of time by hiring a private photo guide to take us to Oia, circling the island, a winery and Akrotiri. He was an exceptional guide and he took us to some excellent vantage points. As I recall, we took the funicular up and down the cliff without any delay. There were multiple ships in that day. It was a fun day but for me, there’s no need to ever go back.