For going to the top, ticket info is kind of misleading since it cost L7,000/$3.50 to take the stairs all the way, or L8,000/$4.00 to take an elevator part way. For St. Peter's sake, splurge and take the elevator for the short ride because there were STILL 320 grueling steps to the top even more gut-busting than climbing the spires of Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Stairways were steep, narrow, leaning inward, crowded and stuffy - especially with the "out of breath" types who stop to smoke another cigarette!

Between the elevator and atop the dome, you'll enter inside at the base of the dome for magnificent views of below as seen in this entry's photos. But also look up to get a clearer, more indepth view of Michaelangelo's detailed interior work on the dome.

The circular observation deck gives a superb 360-degree view over Rome worth every huff-and-puff step it took to get you there. Width of the deck is narrow further compounded by support arches which impede traffic flow. Be patient and wait your turn to grab an uninterrupted, up-front view against the railing's edge from any of the viewpoints...and be content to gaze about until you've had your fill. From the backside, you'll also see the expansive Vatican Gardens; something you're likely not going to walk through, so look and enjoy it while you can. I certainly could have spent more time here if the crowds hadn't been so thick and the breezes so much cooler and gustier.

Once coming back down the steps, you'll come into an upper terrace area that allows you to walk out across the rooftop of the Basilica. It's a nice open-air, uncrowded breather after coming down as well as adding many unique vantage points in and around The Vatican complex.

I'm not Catholic so I wasn't sure what to expect - religious or tourist experience? Aside from this being home of the Pope and a place seen often in various outlets of the media, this was simply one more stop on the jam-packed list of attractions I felt compelled to see while in Rome.

After poking around St. Peter's square which was heavily corridored off with only lanes for passage, I tried entering the Basilica...only to be sent back out and to a lower area right of the entrance. Everyone must check backpacks, purses, bags, etc. at no cost before entering so you might want to consider wearing something with extra pockets for camera, film, etc. they allow you to carry in. I also can't remember, but I think this same policy was also in affect at the Vatican Museum.

The Basilica could definitely win the title for "Church of all Churches" except it didn't have that feel once inside. The atmosphere was almost as chaotic as found around Piazza Venezia with the hordes of people milling about; even their quietest whispers and shufflings echoing within the cavernous interior. This may all be sounding disrespectful to Catholicism, but I found the indoor "circus atmosphere" even more disrespectful; especially with smaller mass services being conducted in various chapel settings.

I came here after touring the Vatican Museum so my mind was still blurred from "art overload" not to mention my lack of knowledge of Catholocism. But for those who do, there's a gazillion things to be seen. Frescoes inside the smaller cupolas and the great dome are definitely worth looking up for, and other works of Michaelangelo, Bernini, and noted artists are scattered about...though darkness makes flashless photography all but impossible.

There was quite the line waiting to descend into the grottoe-burial areas, but don't let it discourage you. Once below, the areas open up allowing you to leisurely or quickly pass the countless crypts, tombs, prayer altars and such including where St. Peter, himself is presumed to have been buried.

I can't imagine having came to Rome without touring The Vatican, but I didn't expect to leave with a "Been there - Done that" type of feeling either.