Coptic areas of Cairo – the signs on the wall announcing the various monuments inside the area

1) The Hanging Church: Located above a gatehouse of Babylon Fortress, probably the most famous church in Egypt. Built long long ago, rumored to be in the 7th century. The Church has a number of icons inside it.
2) Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (Abu Serga). This is a Church that is supposed to have been built over a site where the Holy Family stayed during their journey in Egypt, when they were fleeing persecution by the Romans. It is considered extremely holy, however, the exact spot where the stay is supposed to have happened (in a cave below the ground) is blocked by a metal gate, and only open on specific occasions. The church is named after 2 soldiers martyred in the 4th century in Syria.

Coptic areas of Cairo – entry to the St. Sergius Church and the Holy Crypt in it

3) Coptic Museum. This was founded in 1910 to house many old Coptic objects, and now houses many important Coptic items.
4) Ben Ezra Synagogue (also known as the El-Geniza Synagogue). It is supposed to be located on the site where the Moses was found as a baby on the Nile, and adopted by the Pharaoh.
Entry to this area is through a gate, and you need to pass through a small covered corridor to reach the area, with the corridor having many books and paintings on both sides for tourists to purchase.

Coptic areas of Cairo – Security police at a barrier to ensure safety of tourists

Coptic areas of Cairo – a guest house to the back of the monuments

Coptic areas of Cairo – entering the complex through a staircase descending down

Coptic areas of Cairo – view of the entry to the complex

Coptic areas of Cairo – narrow corridor with old books and paintings on either side

Coptic area in Cairo – a security metal gate before entering a monument

Coptic area of Cairo – inside a Church

Coptic area of Cairo – the older sections of the Coptic part

Coptic area of Cairo – a beautiful painting in a wooden structure inside a Church

This post is turning out to be longer than I thought, so will carry on with more locations inside Cairo in the next post.

The still remaining tall structure of the St. Augustine Church in Goa, now in ruins

Base platform of the ruins of St. Augustine Church in Goa

Next up, we visited the 2 side-by-side churches called the Dom Basilica Church, and the Se Cathedral. Both of them look real difficult. To reach there, the parking is located on the road next to the Dom Basilica Church and there is a short walk through a path lined with trees on both sides.

People braving the rain to go the Dom Basilica

Downpour outside as visible from the Dom Basilica in Goa

The Basilica of Bom Jesus or Basilica of Good Jesus (Portuguese: Basílica do Bom Jesus) is a World Heritage site located in Goa, and also holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier, with the church name referring to the infant Jesus. The church construction was started in 1594 and completed in 1605 when it was consecrated by Archbishop, Dom Fr. Aleixo de Menezes. The church is also famous since it holds the remains of the Saint Francis Xavier, who founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) along with St. Ignatius Loyola. The remains of the Saint attract a huge number of visitors, especially once every 10 years when the body is made available for public viewing (last done in 2004). The inside of the Church was very beautiful and solemn, although sections of the Church seemed like a Spanish villa with an inner courtyard having a garden.

The body of St. Francis Xavier in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa

View of inner greenery of the courtyard inside the Dom Basilica in Goa

Statue of saint inside the Dom Basilica in Goa

Next to the Dom Basilica (across the road) is the Se Cathedral, also known as the Sé Cathedral of Santa Catarina, is dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria, and is a huge and beautiful building, with some excellent indoor structure and very beautiful outdoors. The Cathedral was built starting in 1562, completed in 1619, and consecrated in 1640, and was built to celebrate the victory of Portuguese under Afonso de Albuquerque over a Muslim army in 1510 (which led to the conquest of Goa), and was named after Saint Catherine since the day when victory happened was on the day of the feast of Saint Catherine.

Beautiful view of the Se Cathedral from outside with greenery

Inside the Se Cathedral in Goa

Chandelier hanging from the roof of the Se Cathedral in Goa

Sculpture of Jesus Christ on a cross inside the Se Cathedral in Goa

After spending a couple of hours at these 2 beautiful churches, we moved on, visiting a Hindu temple, the famous Shri Mangueshi Temple, Goa. It was drizzling slightly, so there was some amount of mud and ditches, but the inner compound of the temple was relatively much cleaner. We went inside the temple, said our prayers, visited the tower, and then moved on. By this time, we were ready for lunch, and we were also enticed by the prospect of visiting a local spice plantation. These are large tracts of land on which spices are grown organically, and they also give you an organic lunch and a trip around the plantation where you can see their growing habits and learn about which spices grow on which plants along with seasons. It was pretty exciting to go there. The trip to a spice plantation can however cost you around Rs. 400 per head to go inside and do the trip.

Exterior architecture of the Mangueshi Temple in Goa

After the spice plantation, it was back to the water. We were not interested in visiting the Miramar beach since we were running short of time and light in the sky, and so we headed to a different type of beach, called Dona Paula. The place is a expensive and luxurious place to live, and is named after the daughter of a Portuguese viceroy who threw herself off the cliff when she was refused permission to marry a local fisherman. However, this is not a typical beach, more of a beachfront and where there is an observation tower located at a height from where you get a good view. You typically do not work along sand with water next to you.

After all this, we were attracted by the notion of a 1 hour cruise on the River Mandovi. There are these numerous water cruisers (not very attractive) which carry you aboard and for a one hour cruise for Rs. 150. You sit on plastic seats, with a local band providing the music or can go to the open upper deck (but since it is night, you do not see anything much). Having done this cruise, I can say that you will not miss much if you do not do this cruise.

On board entertainment on river cruise in Goa – boring

Many photos of Goa at this location.

Map of Vatican City (placement within Rome) on Google Maps (may need to zoom in)

View Larger Map

A great site with information on timings for many places inside the Vatican, dress code, mass timings, climbing the cupola, grottoes, restrooms, St. Peter’s Tomb, seeing the pope, Sistine Chapel, Tours (link)

Hours: St. Peter’s Basilica is open daily, Apr-Sep 7:00-19:00;
Oct-Mar 7:00-18:00
Treasury Museum: 9:00 – 18:15 (Apr – Sep) 9:00 – 17:15 p.m. (Oct – Mar)
Grottoes: 7:00-18:00 (Apr – Sep) 7:00-17:00 (Oct – Mar)
Cupola: 8:00 – 18:00 (Apr – Sep) 8:00 – 16:45 (Oct – Mar)
Scavi Office: weekdays 9:00 – 17:00

Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel – (Vatican website)
Hours – Closed on many holidays, check the Vatican Website
Mar-Oct 8:45-15:20, Exit 16:45 Saturdays 8:45 – 12:20 Exit 13:45
Nov-Feb 8:45 – 12:20, Exit 13:45
Closed Sundays, except the last Sunday of the month which is free.
Regular Price – 12 Euros

Virtual Tour of St. Paul’s Basilica Outside the Walls available at this link (click here)

Virtual tours of the Vatican Museums at this link (click here)

Information on St. Peter’s Basilica (Wikipedia – including the history of the construction of the Church) and Square in the Vatican City (link), (Photos from EWTN Catholic Network)

For people visiting the Vatican, it is always a challenge for them to decide what to visit. Here are some links to articles that describe what to visit:

Article in the Telegraph about how to visit the museums (click here)

Few visitors to the Vatican Museums come away unmoved by what they see – especially in the Sistine Chapel. The sheer scale of Michelangelo’s ambition and achievement (he painted more than 600 figures in all), the coherence of the compositions and the consistency of the artistic quality is heart-stopping. The problem is how to enjoy it. Throughout most of the year, the sheer number of people cramming into the chapel, and especially into the Raphael Rooms, undermines the whole experience. It’s like trying to read metaphysical poetry in a rugby scrum.
Top 20:
Raphael paintings and tapestries, Aldo-Brandini Wedding Fresco, Horses heads, The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, The Last Judgment, Fra Angelico: Chapel of Nicholas V (for more, including descriptions, visit the actual article)

Some useful tips at this forum post at fodors.com (link)

The Sistine Chapel is part of the Vatican Museums and furthest from the entrance. There is an admission fee. For an additional fee, you can prebook a timed entry to avoid waiting in line. Anecdotal evidence suggests that lines are short or non-existent after about 1 pm.

http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/index.html

There is no fee for entry to St. Peter’s Basilica, but there is a security line, which generally moves quite fast.

Tips from ehow.com (link)

Select the day you want to visit Vatican City. Check the official Vatican website for events you want to attend or avoid, including the Pope’s weekly public appearance in St. Peter’s Square.

Private visit to the Vatican Gardens and Sistine Chapel (link)

Detailed description of visit to the Vatican City with photos (link)

Finally, we moved into the Sistine chapel where no speaking, photography or videography is allowed. It is difficult to comprehend the scope of the Michelangelo ceiling from individual images – they can never recreate the feeling of looking up at this work in its whole. This is also the room in which the Pope is elected by the college of cardinals and seems to resonate with history and untold secrets. It was far less crowded in the chapel from the last time I visited, and we were able to take seats along the benches that line the perimeter. From here we could comfortably take in the various panels without the sort of reverse vertigo that you get from walking in slow circles with your head tilted back. Certainly the panel showing God creating Adam is captivating, but so are many of the less famous images that lead to this centre piece.

Ticket Office online of the Vatican Museums (for skipping the lines, for getting guided tours, for school groups, and for pilgrimages) (link)

A pilgrim’s report (link)

As Christian and Catholic, I will never conceive a visit to Rome without visiting the Vatican City, the spiritual centre of the Christendom, with the famous Saint Peter’s Basilica and the other three Basilicas located outside the Holy See walls: Saint John in Lateran, Saint Mary Major and Saint Paul outside the Walls, the impressive Vatican Museums, the beautiful Gardens and the fantastic St. Peter’s Square.

Vatican City, Italy – Sistenth Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica

2 parts of a virtual tour of the Vatican (an excerpt from a National Geographic documentary titled “Inside the Vatican”).

A virtual tour of the Vatican (Part 1)