Howdy chewys! This will be our final post on Italy for our Europe honeymoon travelogue because Milan was our very last stop before we ventured to our next destination! π We spent a short 2 days 1 night in Milan because it was more like a stopover for us π
Day 9 of our honeymoon trip saw us checking out of our hotel in Venice in the morning, taking the vaporetto to the train station and reserving train seats with our train pass. We had to wait for more than an hour for the next train to Milan and the wait was pretty agonizing because we had to wait in the cold. Journey from Venice to Milan took 2 hours and 35 minutes to be (quite) exact. We were overjoyed because it was snowing outside when we were about to reach Milan! π Some evidence of snow behind me, at Milano Central Station π
After checking into our hotel and having lunch nearby, we took the metro and alighted at Duomo metro station. This is Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square), named after the Duomo (Milan Cathedral). If you don’t already know, ‘Duomo’ is a general term for cathedrals in Italy. Yes I was pretty confused myself. LOL.
Duomo di Milano is the largest cathedral in Italy and fifth largest in the world which took nearly six centuries to complete.
We were extremely wary when strangers approached us, offering rice grains to be fed to the birds at Piazza del Duomo. When our friends knew that we were going to Europe, a number of them warned us not to accept anything from these strangers (who are locals btw) even if they claim whatever they are offering to be free. Yeah nothing is free in this world. Basically, these guys offer to take photos of you feeding the birds and subsequently, demand money from you.
Named after Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of the kingdom of Italy, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is the oldest shopping mall in Italy.
Nope we didn’t buy Prada or Louis Vuitton there, but instead, we bought gelato from Savini! Yum yum! π But very weird la, we could only test one flavor before buying..
Decided to call it a night and we tabao-ed MacDonald’s back for dinner! Our beloved McD! So long never eat liao! We stayed in Hotel Bernina for one night. Location is very good! 3 mins walk from the central station.
The next morning, we skipped breakfast and headed to Castello Sforzesco. Since we were leaving Milan that day, we had to do as much sightseeing as we could! ALso partly because most places are closed on Mondays so there wasn’t much to see the day before.
Inside the castle! It opens as early as 7am, while the museums open at around 9am. We paid β¬3 per person to enter the museum.
Hahaha I was so thrilled to see this painting of Venice! π
There are a handful of museums within the castle but we only visited one due to time constraint and my limited attention span. Oops π
We visited Santa Maria delle Grazie next. Listen up, people! If you wanna get up close and personal with Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, you gotta reserve tickets at least 2 weeks in advance. We didnt know that we had to book early so we didnt get to see it π But we did pay β¬10 per person to view Da Vinci’s other works. No photos were allowed though.
Caught the afternoon train and we were on our way to Switzerland! More on that soon π Read about our travel experiences in Italy if you have not done so!
Connect with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy π
Duomo di Milano is captivating! The guys there are too much.. All i wanted was to take photos and they kept coming over wanting to pass me the rice grains.. There was even an occasion when my hand was open, they tried to pour the grains over my hands, luckily I moved fast enough and the grains drop on the floor. I was quite pissed. But there was nothing I could do as there were just too many of them in front of the Duomo.
Haha yes yes! One of them placed a rose on misterchewy’s bag and said “Free! Free!” We showed him black face and insisted that we didn’t want his flower and forced him to take it back. Lol.
Hello! Chanced upon your blog while I was researching for my trip π Nice photos you have there!
Anyway can I check how is Milan metro and the central station? I google and seems that its not safe at all! Now I feel like changing my itinerary but its like a waste not visiting duomo and lake como >.<
Hi there, we think it’s pretty ok. Just be sure not to talk to any strangers regardless of how harmless they may be or even if they seem to be just making small talk.
Thanks! π
Hihi!
Just checking with you, when you went around to sight-see during the day you are off to the next city, do you just leave your luggage at the hotel? And did you get a pocket wifi? Also, are you able to share how good are the discounts over in the outlet malls SPACE and The Mall in Florence?
Am planning an itinerary but not to Milan due to time constraint, be heading to Paris after Venice though.
Yup we left our luggage at the hotel because it would be very inconvenient for us to drag our luggage around. We didn’t get pocket wifi because we thought it would be a good way to disassociate ourselves with the virtual world! BUT we tried to leech wifi whenever we popped into cafes or restaurants. LOL. I cant rmb how good are the discounts but not bad la. However, you wont be able to find the latest range of branded goods there! I think you should reconsider if you do not have time!