Proper dress/Vatican and Turkey's mosque, etc.

[giginevelyn]

Needing a little help defining how to dress ourselves and young children for the Vatican. I understand its no bare shoulders or knees. So, a short sleeve top is fine? Also a skirt for a women that covers the knees? My husband will wear slacks that day, but what about my 5 y/o son? Can he wear shorts? What about his knees?

 

Also, what is expected at religious places in Turkey. The Blue Mosque, etc.?

 

And changing the subject. At the Vatican are their drinks and snacks available? Can I bring something like pretzels for my kids or do they not want you walking around outside eating food. I wouldn't dream of eating inside anywhere, but in case there are places to sit outside. Can I take a few snacks in a backpack? What do they allow to be brought in anyway. I assume there is very high security.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jan

[carlmm]

Needing a little help defining how to dress ourselves and young children for the Vatican. I understand its no bare shoulders or knees. So, a short sleeve top is fine? Also a skirt for a women that covers the knees? My husband will wear slacks that day, but what about my 5 y/o son? Can he wear shorts? What about his knees?

 

Yes, you have the right understanding. A short sleeve top and a skirt that covers the knees are fine.

Italians in general love children and are quite gracious to them. About a five years old I am not sure. A two years old boy could certainly wear shorts, a ten years old should better not.

 

At the Vatican are their drinks and snacks available? Can I bring something like pretzels for my kids or do they not want you walking around outside eating food. I wouldn't dream of eating inside anywhere, but in case there are places to sit outside. Can I take a few snacks in a backpack? What do they allow to be brought in anyway. I assume there is very high security.

 

Yes, you can bring snacks and snacks. Nice places to sit down are of course in St. Peter's Square but also the roof top of the cathedrale where you get when climbing the cupolla. There even a place to get drinks used to be but I am not sure if it is still there. Outside the square many street vendors offer food and drink albeit for very inflated prices.

In the Vatican Museums there is a restaurant.

[zeitgeist]

carlmm is right.

 

The same applies for the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. No cover of women's hair required. You do not have to take off your shoes, instead you will get felt overshoes.

 

At the Blue Mosque you will be approached by very friendly men who insist in giving you a free guided tour of the Mosque. Afterwards they want to sell you a rug (which might be not a bad idea, but pay no more than half of the price they demand initially).

[txcrusr]

We have recently returned from a 10 day cruise of the Eastern Med. I was concerned about head and leg covering for visiting the Isa Bey mosque near Ephesus and had brought broomstick skirts for me and my 14 and 16 year old girls to put over our shorts and capris, as well as pareos/shawls to use for head covering. Surprisingly, none of these were required. In Greece, some churches provided head shawls for a small donation. Italy was strictest of all on leg and shoulder covering (heads did not need to be covered), not permitting capris in a couple of instances. At the duomo in Florence the sign said no t-shirts, but we never got clarification as to whether this meant tank tops only or all t-shirts. Our solution was to carry pareos with us that could be wrapped around as a skirt or used as a head or shoulder covering as needed.

 

Wanda.

[giginevelyn]

Wanda:

 

Can you explain more about Italy being stickest. Where were Capris not allowed?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

A little bit more on Istanbul. Women cover their upper arms for the most part. I did, everywhere, until the last couple of days when I realized it was no big deal. But a shirt with short sleeves would be better for the Mosques than a sleeveless one.

[txcrusr]

Wanda:

 

Can you explain more about Italy being stickest. Where were Capris not allowed?

 

Evelyn,

 

The Duomo in Florence was where we were turned away in capris (we'd forgotten to pack our wraps that day) - maybe it was the t-shirts that were the problem. We didn't push the point, just decided to do something else. St. Mark's in Venice allowed the girls in with tank tops and long skirts (fashioned out of the pareos), and I was fine in a short-sleeved top and a broomstick skirt. Elsewhere in Venice we watched people exiting a church after a funeral; there were women in above-the-knee skirts, with sleeveless tops, etc. There doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule, unfortunately. My advice is that if there is a church or mosque you definitely want to enter, be prepared to dress very conservatively from the outset or have clothes with you to change into.

 

Wanda.

[212cruiser]

carlmm is right.

 

You do not have to take off your shoes, instead you will get felt overshoes.

 

That was not our experience in Istanbul this year. Maybe not at the Blue Mosque (I actually forget), but most every other mosque required you to remove your shoes outside. I only remember getting plastic shoe-booties at the palace, never at a mosque.

[photographia]

Needing a little help defining how to dress ourselves and young children for the Vatican. I understand its no bare shoulders or knees. So, a short sleeve top is fine? Also a skirt for a women that covers the knees? My husband will wear slacks that day, but what about my 5 y/o son? Can he wear shorts? What about his knees?

 

Also, what is expected at religious places in Turkey. The Blue Mosque, etc.?

 

And changing the subject. At the Vatican are their drinks and snacks available? Can I bring something like pretzels for my kids or do they not want you walking around outside eating food. I wouldn't dream of eating inside anywhere, but in case there are places to sit outside. Can I take a few snacks in a backpack? What do they allow to be brought in anyway. I assume there is very high security.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jan

 

Nowadays you can't even get into St. Peter's Basilica without going through security, sadly! They won't care if you have snacks in your backpack, but as you already said, you can't eat them inside the church. Ditto for the Vatican Museums; there's a terrific cafeteria in there, BTW, with unbelievable pasta dishes--a far cry from American cafeteria food! If your kids wanted to pull out their backpack snacks while sitting in the cafeteria, though, that would be fine. And you certainly can always sit on the steps of the colonade out in St. Peter's Square and eat anything you like.

 

As for dress: the major basilicas in Rome now have huge signs with drawings, showing no sleeveless tops, no halter tops or midriffs, no shorts or minis--so nobody can claim they didn't understand. In St. Mary Major, they will provide you with a shawl to cover bare arms, but at St. Peter's (unless they've just changed procedures!) they WILL turn you away, I've seen it happen many times. I've also seen little kids about your boy's age get in with shorts, though. Once I saw an Italian woman in a very dressy, but sleeveless, dress get stopped at the door of St. Peter's; she whipped out her matching shawl and was instantly permitted to enter. Head coverings for women are not an issue.

[Maryutah]

The blue Mosque they did require us to take off our shoes, our guide gave us a plastic bag to carry them in, which was nice. If you didn't have long enough shorts/skirt or top they didn't feel appropriate, they did have shawls or wraps at the door, and you drop them off when you leave, so that was nice (our party didnt' need but we saw a few who had to take them).

 

The Haggia Sophia didn't have the same rules of taking off shoes, and we didn't see anyone handing out the shawls / covers, etc.,

 

At the Vatican just outside the Vatican store was a cart with snacks, panini's, drinks etc.,

 

Lot of folks were wearings longer shorts, tshirts etc., in Vatican museum, but I didnt' see anyting revealing or anyone turned away - people seemed to be respectful they were in an important place etc.,

[MarciAnn]

I just returned from Rome and myf ifth trip to the Vatican and I am sorry to report that there were quite a few young people in halter tops and shorts in St. Peters. They do not appear to be enforcing these rules as they once did.

 

With that said as long as you cover your shoulders and do not wear short shorts you should be fine. Capris are absolutely fine. Tank tops, halter tops, etc. should not be worn, notwithstanding the above. It is really a matter of respect.

[Cruising Retired Army SGM]

I just returned from Rome and Istanbul last week and I can tell you some first hand experience we ran into. We were walking around the Vatican late Sunday afternoon and we saw that St Peters was still open so we went to check it out. One of my party was a 14 year old female wearing a tub top and shorts so I took off my polo shirt and she put it on to be able to go into St Peters, I was wearing a new t-shirt and they did not say anything to me.

 

When we went to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul we all had to take off our shoes and they provided us a small clear plastic bag to put you shoes in as we walked in. Also the best I can remember there is carpet on all the floor inside the Blue Mosque. It was very, very hot the day we were in Istanbul most of the women entering the Blue Mosque who were wearing shorts or did not have their shoulders covered were give a blue cloth at the door to wrap around themselves. There was no need for head cover for women in Rome or Istanbul.