Trastevere and The Forum

Our last full day in Rome was packed full of things we had wanted to do on Christmas Day, but couldn't because they were all closed. Christmas probably isn't the best time to visit Rome, because it's a city that literally shuts down from Christmas Eve, all the way until we left on the day after Boxing Day.

We spent the morning in the Trastevere district of Rome. The Trastevere is west of the River Tiber, and south of the Vatican, so it was in easy walking distance from our apartment.

Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere - with a mosaic from the 12th-century of the Virgin Mary with Jesus surrounded by 10 women holding lamps

Christmas Day with the Romans

We woke up very late on Christmas Day. We were so exhausted from the huge day we'd had on Christmas Eve, we didn't wake up until about lunch-time. So we had a relaxing Christmas Morning, made some breakfast and some yummy cappuccinos and then started getting ready.

Practically nothing was going to be open on Christmas Day, so we decided to spend the day just wandering the streets since the sun was out and it looked like it was going to be a really nice day.

St Peter and the Pantheon

After we had wandered round the Vatican Museums for a few hours we headed over to St Peter's Basilica which is down the road and around the corner from the museums.

To get into St Peter's Square you go through these huge gates. There wasn't a lot of people around, most Italians spend Christmas Eve with their families.

Visiting the City within a City

We awoke extremely early on Christmas eve to make our way to Gatwick Airport for our 6.30 a.m. flight. That flight seemed like a good idea when we were booking it, but in reality, getting up at 2.30 a.m. is not great.

We had to get up so early because we had to get the bus to Victoria and then the train to Gatwick, so a full 4 hours before our flight!

But we arrived in time and took off as the sun was rising, which was a pretty amazing sight.

We arrived in Rome at about 10.30 a.m. and headed straight for the Vatican. We had pre-booked tickets for 12.30 p.m. because we heard the Vatican Museums were packed on Christmas Eve and the day after Boxing Day, because they were closed the two days in between.

In reality we walked right in with no problems! Though I think if we had waited until the 27th it would have been packed because Rome seemed to get busier the longer we were there.

We checked our bags into the cloakroom and headed off in the direction of the Sistine Chapel. Our plan was to head there first, and then wander back around the museums because we weren't sure what time they actually closed.