Travel With Me-Rome, Italy

I mentioned a few posts back that I had the joy and pleasure of traveling to the Mediterranean this last September. It was a vacation of a lifetime. I thought I'd share a story and some photos every so often and "take you along" with me.

Rome is amazing. Americans think 250 years is a long time. As you Europeans know it's a drop in the bucket. It's hard to imagine centuries ago people lived, laughed and cried where we walked.

I stumbled on a fantastic tour called "Scavi Tour" while researching the trip online. We applied to the Vatican to participate (only 120 people a day are allowed). And we were lucky there was an opening. Groups of ten to twelve people are taken below St. Peter's Basilica and shown the exact place St. Peter was buried and the graffiti that says "Peter is here!" with an arrow! Of course it wasn't English...

Early Christians used to gather there in secret to worship. But to be in places early Christians gathered was incredible. The picture above is the public location honoring St. Peter in the basilica. The huge "canapy" is over the site of the moved grave and is made of bronze. To find bronze statues or carvings from the past is rare because they were generally melted down for weapons. This picture below is the actual site where Peter is buried, a few yards behind this alter.

Constantine built the first St. Peter's Basilica there 300 years after Peter's death. It was attacked multiple times and finally a new, grander basilica was built in it's place. (and it's very grand) This is the one that exists today. Seems over time everyone forgot Peter was buried underneath with many others. The crypt was discovered when they broke through a wall while burying a pope.

Because this is a quilting blog, I am adding something we're all interested in! This is a photo of one of the many outstanding tapestries on display in route to the Sistine Chapel. They were drawn by artists and then made by workers. I'll bet the colors were much more vivid when they were made, but isn't this beautiful?!

I hope each of you is doing well. Have a great evening!