The Sistine Chapel – known for Michelangelo’s beautiful ceiling and the grand finale of most Vatican Museum tours. After craning my neck trying to take it all in, it was time to leave…except I went through the wrong exit.
There are two ways to exit the Sistine Chapel. The main exit is to the left of the room as you enter. I’m told that this has a long walk back. The other exit is for licensed group tours only, and lets you out close to the entrance to St. Peter’s Basilica saving you a long hike back and skipping an additional security line. You are not supposed to take the group exit if you aren’t in a group and they randomly patrol this route.
A huge statue down the “secret corridor”
But I didn’t know that and that day there was no guard. So I wandered down these huge steps and past huge statues along a long hallway. Halfway down I ran into a very confused Swiss Guard. He didn’t speak English, and so we couldn’t understand what he was saying. We just smiled and waved to the confused guard. He was kind enough to let us take a photos of him before we continued wandering alone down the large staircase.
A confused Swiss Guard
Eventually the staircase ended and a few more slightly upset Swiss Guards let us out and we found that we had completely bypassed the long line into St. Peter’s and instead were able to walk right on in.
The passageway spits you out right here, right in front of St. Peter’s.
It wasn’t until later that I found out what that exit is for, and that it is usually closed as it does have passages that lead into the Papal section of Vatican City. Oops!
Travel Missteps is an every-other week series on how sometimes part of the journey is making mistakes and getting lost.
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