TEXT VATICAN GARDENS

 

         These private Gardens were laid out in the 16^th century and are open for guided tours only. The many statues, grottos and fountains are gifts to Popes through the ages. Various administrative buildings are scattered throughout the property.

 

         Faye, Jim and Mary walked over to the Vatican Museum/Gardens entrance by the back route following the Vatican wall and met Dawn & Tom there. Most of the people gathered at the Museum/Gardens entrance were ticketed for the Museum. We were able to bypass them and go in to meet our Vatican Gardens tour guide inside.

         It was a lovely walk through the gardens, though very strenuous. It was hilly and paved with square dark gray stones (those awful picturesque cobblestones). Very hard on the feet. Since it was October we didn’t see the glorious display of colorful flowers which bloom in the spring but it was very lovely.

         We saw the St. Peter’s dome and the statues on top of the Basilica facade from the back. The Lourdes grotto was very nice and did have some flowers. The gardener gave Dawn two which she shared with me.

         The statue of St. Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) was on the way out of the Gardens. She was a nun, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, who wrote widely. She died at Auchwicz.

         We were all exhausted and had very sore feet by the time we had walked home.