Our son Leo B. is very interested in travel and geography, and we've taken to sending our kids (the…read morethree-year-old is illiterate) postcards whenever we leave town without them. We were already planning to send one from Rome, but we had to hit the post office in Vatican City, which is, as Leo knows, the world's smallest country.
The post office was conveniently located in St. Peter's Square, right outside the basilica, where we finished our morning Vatican tour. It was cute and inviting, immediately recognizable by the bright yellow post boxes outside, stamped with the words "POSTE VATICANE."
Like everything else in Vatican City, the post office is a bit of a tourist attraction. It was busy when we went, on a Monday during low season, but no real lines to pay or send our card.
The place was well stocked with souvenirs, including a large selection of postcards. We picked one with an image of St. Peter's Basilica, and it was nice and cost a normal amount of money, a Euro or thereabouts. Unfortunately, we did not have the foresight to bring a pen, and you can't just borrow one at the Vatican post office, which must see its fair share of the millions of tourists who visit the country every year. We had to buy one instead, and the selection was small and laughable. We ended up paying €4 for a cheap, flimsy pen printed with images of Vatican attractions. A souvenir, I guess, though not one I particularly wanted.
We picked up a magnet, too, of the map of Rome we saw in the Gallery of Maps. The postcard, pen, and magnet came out to €12.50, and I was reminded, for about the 100th time that day, of the church's historic sale of indulgences. We literally got Protestantism because the Roman Catholic Church was greedy. See, e.g., St. Peter's Basilica, financed by indulgences.
There were separate areas for the shop and the postal service, and we were able to write our card at a table (at least writing surfaces were freely provided) then buy a €2.55 stamp from the Città del Vaticano. We dropped the postcard in one of those yellow post boxes and went on our way.
The card hasn't arrived yet, but assuming it does, eventually, make its way to our house, I was quite pleased with our visit to the Vatican post office. The postcard was a unique souvenir, one I know our little boys will appreciate.