Sightseeing in Milan!

On Tuesday I set off bright and early for a cheap Ryanair flight to Milan, Italy from Stansted, London(ish). We had a very loose itinerary, a small food bucket list, and the knowledge that Thursday night we’d receive our university results which made the trip a celebration of sorts.

SO. We got to Milan and hopped on the train at Terminal 1 and rode it for about 40 minutes to Bovisa, a short walk from our AirBnb. We were a little early to check in, so sat outside some anonymous little cafe and cooled down with a coke and a panini, until it was time to meet our host. She spoke little English so literally handed us the keys and left us to it, which was perfect. The apartment was cute- very Italian feeling and small and cosy.

We then left the apartment and headed straight to the metro and on to the Duomo Cathedral.

You come out of the metro station and as you climb the stairs the cathedral peeps through the gap until you’re fully out and it hits you with its enormity. It’s SO big yet SO intricate. If anything, it’s more impressive from further back, because only then can you get a true perspective of the size of it. It’s easily the most breathtaking cathedral I’ve ever seen and, if you visit, it’s so important to stand there and just let it dwarf you for a while.

If you turn left from the cathedral you can’t miss the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II, basically a super impressive long undercover shopping centre with a few restaurants but more importantly stores from Louis Vuitton, Prada and all the other high fashion brands.

The architecture is insane; old and ornate and just like the cathedral, so incredibly detailed. From the mosaic floor in the middle to the archways to the paintings around the centre, everything is meticulous and perfect. By now we were t h i r s t y, the weather was floating around 30 degrees everyday we were there, and so OBVS it was rude to get anything other than the v Italian Aperol Spritz. (The first of many.)

All refreshed and raring to go, we wandered around a bit more before heading on to Sforza castle, just five minutes from the Duomo metro stop- the main sightseeing attractions were all super close in Milan which meant we could get the ones we wanted to see all done in the one day. The castle’s pretty unique, not English in it’s style (obvs) and not gothic how you’d perhaps imagine a castle.

The fountain was so appealing as a means of cooling down, but we weren’t about to get ourselves shunned from Milan by disrespecting history so we had to just look at it instead.. The castle grounds are free to walk through which is great- on our final day we got a coffee from the cafe there too and it was reasonably priced and delicious! It was my only espresso of the trip actually, and very drinkable!

The grounds were pretty cool- they reminded me of a film set and I could imagine people from centuries past walking through the castle on important business. At the back of the grounds is a giant park- super busy yet with a really chilled atmosphere, so we sat down on the grass and enjoyed the sun for a little while.

We rounded off the day with dinner, but I’m saving all the food for one dedicated post- so make sure you’re following me to see that! I’ve still got posts on street art, canals and art galleries in Milan coming so I can’t recommend clicking that follow button at the bottom of the page enough! Thanks for reading!!