After fourteen hours of flight time, Milan was my first destination in Italy. The city excited me not for the runaway model or lavish fashion brand but simply for the architectural delight of Duomo di Milano. I’ve been wanting to visit this infamous cathedral since forever!
Upon landing on Malpensa Airport (MXP), I bought the ticket for Malpensa Express train that directly took me to the Milan’s main rail station, Milano Centrale. It cost me EUR14. On the Milano Centrale, there was a baggage drop service that cost you EUR6 for the first 5 hours (+ charge you EUR1 for every addition 1 hour). Since I was going to explore the city by foot, I dropped my big heavy baggage there.
To reach the Duomo di Milano is quite easy. You can take metro from Milano Centrale and choose the Duomo station. Yes, the metro for Duomo di Milano is located exactly in front of the cathedral. No hassle! The metro one-way ticket price is EUR1.5 and it is available for 100min ride for all metro and buses. Meaning after 100min you need to buy another ticket. Since I only had 6 hours to explore Milan, I bought two one-way tickets: Milano Centrale – Duomo vv. You can buy the ticket on cigarette store near the station on Centrale.
The Duomo was astonishing! The white enormous façade was enormous and beautifully decorated by hundreds of angels and saint sculptures. Pinnacles and Spires were dominating the roof of the cathedral. It took almost six centuries to complete this beautiful masterpiece. In fact, Duomo di Milano is the largest church in Italy (the larger St. Peter’s Basilica is by right in the Vatican City).
It was the very first time I entered any church and Duomo di Milano did set the bar high. It was really huge (duh) and the nuance inside was calming. The high ceiling allowed lot of cold air to flow in. The interior architecture was beautiful as each pillar was adorned with sculptures of angels. On the sides of the cathedral, there were beautiful stained glass that were placed from the main door up to the front on the main altar.
One of the important points for visiting Italy is always buy skip-the-line tickets should you wish to enter museums, churches, galleries, etc. It is because all of those places are main destination for worldwide tourists, so it is wise to buy the ticket beforehand and you will have more time to explore the places rather than waiting in the line. I bought the skip-the-line ticket for the entering the Duomo di Milano plus skip-the-line ticket for climbing the roof of Duomo by stairs (there is also skip-the-line ticket for the roof by elevator but it will cost you more)
It took me around one hour to explore the inside of the cathedral. Using the skip-the-line ticket, I continued to climb to the roof of the Duomo. God knew how tiring it was to climb the stairs. The stairs were steep and narrow, plus there wasn’t any window. I hardly caught my breath as I arrived at the top, but the scenery was really good. I could see the Piazza del Duomo from the top and looked at the beautiful rectangular pattern on the Piazza.
I used my remaining hours in Milan to go to the Sforza Castle by foot. I enjoyed seeing the cafes, boutiques, tram and people along the street. Don’t forget to taste Milan’s Gelato!
In Milan, you need to be aware of pickpockets and strangers who offer random stuffs like corn for pigeons or bracelet. They have modus operandi to offer you stuffs nicely and then asked for no-make-sense Euro in return. I had bad experience there when one of the African strangers offered me a bracelet and asked for EUR5! Thankfully I only had EUR2 coin in my pocket back then, but I was afraid should they harmed me or something.
The biggest regret on my short visit to Milan was I forgot to book the ticket for entering the Santa Maria delle Grazie. The church is the house Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It is bucket list that hasn’t been checked yet.
From Milan, I took the night train to Florence, to witness the golden era of Renaissance. Will share it on separate post, folks!
Arrivederci
-R
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