Milan Diary:
- Carina Campbell-Welsh
- Jun 11, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 19, 2020
London, Paris and Milan...
Yes we made that RuPaul joke countless times on this trip as me and John are both fans of drag race and we have now been all three of these places. But I have to say that Milan was gorgeous and definitely somewhere that I could see myself living abroad for a year perhaps after uni.
However, once again we flew with Easyjet which has become our stable and reliable booking for both package deals and last minute flights. With Easyjet you can also gain you boarding passes on your phone which adds to the ease of your travels.
SIGHTS:
Milan is 100% a city to go to for the architecture and sights of the city. Duomo being perhaps the greatest and most spectacular that Milan has to offer. Whilst you can go inside and explore the actual cathedral you can also go and explore up the top on the roof which gives you great views over the city (provided you don't mind stairs and not being able to feel you legs by the top.)
It can often get busy at the top, however we didn't worry about this and went at our own pace exploring as there is much of the architectural structure up there which you simply cannot see from the top as you can see from the photos displayed below
As well as Duomo there are many other sights that Milan has to offer such as you can go see the 'Last Supper' Painting by Divinci which unfortunately we were unable to see due to it being sold out during our stay. I would possibly recommend that anyone who was eager to see this books in advance.
In order to get around Milan (as none of us drive and the driving in Milan is literally the most crazy that I have seen) we hired bikes. Which was honestly such a good idea and a refreshing way to tour around the city. Hiring the bikes is simple and anyone with the fact that you can
ride a bike can do it. All it requires is downloading the Bikemi app which allows you to rent the bike for a small fee and returning the bike is as simple as slotting I back in at one of the designated bike areas.
This allowed us to quickly get around the different attractions that we had planned for each day and made getting back to the hotel at night easier after a hard going day of exploring.
We were able to cycle past the castle this way situated in the heart of Milan which is only a short cycle from our hotel.
SHOPPING:
Of course when you are in the fashion capital of the world you need to do some shopping. The best place to visit is the Emanuele II which is a shopping centre right next to the Duomo cathedral. Although we didn't buy anything here as the only shops are Gucci and the likes of Prada the window shopping was still very fun.
STARBUCKS RESERVE:
If you know either me or John even a little bit then you'll know we are never too far from a Starbucks, and Milan was no different. We soon sussed out the Starbucks Reserve located just a short walk from Duomo. Although this can't really be classed as diving straight into the Italian culture its still a really cool place to visit even just to rest your feet for half an hour. The whole reserve is filled with machines demonstrating how they make their coffee and how the coffee beans are separated, there are also classes and tutorials in place which you can book a place in if you're interested and want to know more. Overall, this is somewhere I would go again.
BANKSY:
We also noticed that whilst we were there, there was an exhibition of Banksy works on loan from Amsterdam, well as soon as we saw this we knew that we had to go. Banksy is one of my favourite contemporary artists and whom I believe openly opens discussions to many controversial topics which is much needed in today's culture. The Banksy Exhibition in my opinion was worth paying to go and see and I would pay if ever in Amsterdam to see the full exhibit.
basically...
Milan is a city that can easily be achieved within a long weekend considering we went from the Friday morning to Monday afternoon. This should give you plenty of time to go round the attractions and see everything if you are just wanting to experience the city such as we were. However, Milan is also somewhere where I could see myself relaxing in coffee shops with perhaps a book in hand so a few days extra to allow time for this wouldn't do any harm for my next visit.
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