Forza Milano!

Dan and I went to Milan in October, for 4 nights. We booked  the flights because they were too cheap to resist, without doing aaaaany research (well, apart from reading my friend Laura's blog post about her own trip there) and then before we knew it, we were 2 weeks away with no accommodation and no idea what we were going to do. A sweep of Late Rooms secured us the cheapest hotel room we could find (we stayed at Hotel Vienna which was ideally located by a metro stop but with nothing much else - except for the most amazing pizza shop - nearby. It did the job though - somewhere to sleep and shower!) and we bought guidebooks to swot up on the action.

The main highlight of Milan itself was the Duomo. The main cathedral is beautiful in the day, and even more stunning lit up in the evening. The square it sits in is buzzing and has a real "European city" feel with people milling around taking photos, pigeons everywhere and traders trying to sell you flashing yo-yos, postcards and the like. I loved the Duomo - as well as being a stunning building it felt very calm inside and you could almost feel the history. We didn't climb up to the roof (I'm veeeery lazy and there were LOTS of stairs, plus you have to pay and we were skint) which I've heard offers a great view, but I didn't feel we missed out at all - there's a lot to see inside the Duomo itself as well as in the square. It sounds obvious, but it's not to be missed if you're going to Milan.

We also went to Sforzesco Castle. I consider myself to be a bit of a castle expert, as I've been dragged round many by my enthusiast friend Reg. Sforzesco was great as castles go - it had a beautiful courtyard with lovely mosaic ceiling tiles and some impressive turrets, but I was a little underwhelmed all in all.  I guess I'm just hard to impress, castle-wise!

I'll be honest, the rest of Milan was pretty forgettable. We had a lovely time just wandering round, seeing things, but nothing that I feel compelled to share. Word to the wise - the San Siro football stadium (home to both AC and Inter Milan) is a looooong walk from what the guidebooks claim is the nearest metro stop. Unless you're doing the stadium tour (we weren't) think hard about how much you want to stand in a car park looking at an empty football stadium... I'd have preferred another pint of Italian beer and a slice of pizza!

San Siro. Well, I'd gone all that way, I wasn't not taking a photo!

To bring a bit of positivity back (yeaaaah, PMA!) I'll move on to Como. We decided to jaunt to Como as it's just a 1 hour train ride from Milan, and cost around 13 euros for a return ticket. We spent a day there towards the end of the trip and it was beautiful - exactly what we needed. The lake itself was really pretty, and the town felt very quaint and less hectic than Milan. Their cathedral is worth a visit - we ate dinner in a lovely cafe right outside - and a walk along the lakeside with an ice cream comes highly recommended  We didn't take a boat trip (although there are plenty, and to other lake towns as well) or go on the cable car to the mountain top for what we heard were stunning views as we were short of time, but it didn't matter - our Como trip was definitely the highlight of the weekend and I'd tell anyone going to Milan that they must visit - I'd suggest a couple of nights in Milan, and a couple in Como (or another lake town - there are plenty to choose from).

 

All in all, I'm glad we went to Milan - I'm always happy to visit a new city and the pizza from the shop next to our hotel made the trip worth it all by itself. I do wish we'd planned a little better and booked at least one night in Como though, and maybe I'd try to make it to the Formula 1 race track in nearby(ish) Monza if I went back too. Still, a good time was had by all - Bellissiomo!

Photographic genius I am not. Do love Dan's expression here though!

Lake Como :)