This is going to be a fairly short post as implied by the title, 24 hrs in Milan. There's nothing really much to do in this city, and we went out for a day trip to Lake Como on our second day in Milan. Absolutely no regrets in doing so. I felt like I just came to this city to 1. See the cathedral 2. See my friend who is on exchange here (Hi Gen if you're reading this!!!!)
Getting to Milan
Milan is serviced by 3 airports, train and bus. The nearest airport to the city would be Linate, and the further one would be Malpensa. We left Milan via Malpensa to Germany, it took us a train ride to get to that airport.
We got to Milan by train from La Spezia. The journey took us around 3 hours plus, and it was €19.80 each for the train ticket.
Getting Around Milan
We got around Milan mostly on foot. But to and from between our hostel and the duomo, we chose to take a bus. There wasn't really a need for us to use the metro as we were staying relatively near to the city centre, but at the same time, by this part of the trip we were quite lazy to use our legs any more so... bus to the rescue!
It is funny how I don't recall buying any bus tickets in Milan at all but I'm pretty sure I did hmm.......... Anyway, a single trip costs €1.50 and a day pass costs €4.50. I probably bought a day pass or something when I was there.
Accomodation
We stayed at the Ostello Bello at Milan. Free breakfast included, yay!!!!! This hostel also provided free dinner so we went back to jew on both days when we were in Milan hehehehehehehe. We made the most friends in this hostel as everyone in our room was so friendly, and there were like girls from all over the world! There was this super pretty model-looking German girl who seems to go clubbing every night when we were there. When we were guessing her age, we guessed from her looks that she would definitely be older than us but... turns out that she's only 18 or 19 years old.
Blasphemous. We now feel very old.
1. Milan Duomo
Milan Duomo is the most intricately crafted cathedral I've ever seen in Italy (because there is still the Sagrada Familia in Spain, that wins any cathedral hands down) and I think its definitely worth it to come all the way to Milan to see it because there is just so many things you could do in the Duomo. We bought the Duomo Pass which costs €20 online, and it is good because we get to skip the LONG SCARY LINES by the side of the Duomo. But if you did more research I am sure you could get something cheaper, because there is apparently a concession for students under the age of 26.
*********Advice: GET ALL YOUR TICKETS ONLINE to prevent disappointment.
i) Take a photo outside the Duomo
The duomo looks beautiful at any point in the day. The picture above was taken at sunset, and look how the evening sun casts such a beautiful pinkish-orange hue on the front of the Duomo! But do be careful as every square in Italy is a breeding ground for tourist scams. I've had people approach me with a shitty digital camera from 10 years back, to offer to take a picture for us using that camera.
No thanks.
ii) Explore the cathedral terrace (aka. the roof) of the Duomo
After all the climbing and cursing and swearing in Florence and Cinque Terre, we were kind of sick of climbing up lots of stairs and more stairs. The Milan Duomo gave us a short breather by installing lifts to bring us to the cathedral's terrace, yay.
When we were there, they seemed to be restoring part of the terrace so... the view right at the top was not that splendid with the scaffolding and all. But still, it is a lovely place to spend at least 30 mins to 1 hour at! And at some points in the cathedral, you could look down to see the inside of the Duomo!
iii) Go inside the Duomo, and maybe see some crypts?
We went inside the Duomo in the morning before we departed for Berlin so it was a pretty rushed trip. One good thing about the Duomo pass is that it is valid for a week after you start using it so you could still visit the cathedral on many separate occasions if you really love the Duomo that much...
There's nothing much splendid inside hmm. Similar to the Florence's Duomo but without that stunning painting of the oculus. Pretty dark like a cathedral built in the Romanesque period, and most of the structures are seem to be made of granite.
2. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
We could not afford to buy anything here. End of story.
- extra -
After I spent the day at Como on the second day, I rushed back to meet my friend, Gen, at the Duomo, and he introduced me after dinner to this amazing gelato place with super long queues!!!! Its called Cioccolait Italiani and it is very VERY VERY VERY yummy. I think it would be the best gelato I've ever had in Italy if not for the hot weather that made my gelato melt before we even took this shot on the Go-Pro.
Cioccolati Italiani
Via S. Raffaele, 4, 20121 Milano, Italy
(basically if you are facing the Duomo, it is inside the cluster of shops on the left of the Duomo)
Hours: 8:30 AM to 12:00 AM
Smiling with my gelato dripping down my hands was not an easy job :-(
Anyways, sorry for this really shoddy post as I really did not do much in Milan, so I'll make up for it in the next post where I'll be talking about Como!
xx,
M.
