During our first trip together in Milan, all we cared about were visiting the museums of Hennes and Mauritz a.k.a. H&M Stores, the historical Coco boutique a.k.a. Chanel, the birthplace of Miuccia a.k.a. Prada, and all those other fashion-y shops. Y'know, you get the idea. As a result, we ended up going home with crappy photos (later, you'll see!) and blurred memories of those 4 days.
But, we were young then.
That's why on our second time together in Milan, we paid more attention to its culture, its people, food, and whatever is worth taking note of.
Downtown Milan
The drive from Malpensa airport to downtown Milan takes around 1 hour.
Taking the cab from the airport to the city costs a lot of money. We learned it the hard way. Almost 6 thousand pesos for a taxi ride is just... just so... never mind. Time to move on.
We stayed at Genius Hotel Downtown (http://www.geniushoteldowntown.com), a 3-star family-run hotel in Via Porlezza, located right at the city center. It is just a short walk from the Duomo! Check out Google Maps to see how good its location is (click here). Their rooms are reasonably priced too! The hotel we stayed at during our first Milan trip is so friggin expensive that it's not even funny. We paid US$695 per person for a 4day3night-stay at Hotel Vittoria Milano (http://www.hotelvittoriamilano.it) in Via Petro Calvi. To be fair, it wasn't entirely the hotel's fault. We didn't know that our trip falls during the Milan Moda Donna Fashion Trade and (drum roll please) tadaaaaaa... Milan Fashion Week! So, hotels jacked up their prices during those dates. When planning a trip to a city, make sure there are no trade fairs or major concerts going on to avoid ridiculous hotel prices (unless you're really going there for that).
The Piazza del Duomo is the city square, named after the cathedral and has an area of 17,000 square meters.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
This arcade houses a lot of designer shops, cafes and restaurants. It was designed in 1861, and built between 1865 and 1877. Our favorite place in Milan!
Stazione di Milano Centrale
This is Milan city's main railway station. It serves about 320,000 passengers everyday, or a total of 120 million in a year.
Duomo di Milano, during the day.
The Duomo is a Gothic cathedral, which took nearly 6 centuries to build. It is the fourth largest cathedral in the world.
Italian Officers
Chiesa di San Bernardino Alle Ossa
The Bone Chapel at San Bernardino Alle Ossa
The bone chapel, decorated with human bones and skulls, was built in 1210 when an adjacent cemetery ran out of space. Scary and eerie. The place smells weird too.
Basilica de Santo Stefano Maggiore
It is a church established in the 10th century, just beside the San Bernardino Olle Ossa
Via Sant' Andrea
Okay we won't lie. We still visitied some historical shops, but we swear it didn't take much of our time.
Via Giuseppe Mazzini
This street is lined with cafes and restaurants facing the Duomo. Macy ordered this maggot-looking pasta, which they call Trofie.
Now look at how crappy our old Milan photos are, compared to the new ones!!
I guess we are more sensible and matured now when it comes to traveling, arent we?? =)
How long did you stay in Milan? Any advice on where to go if you're just staying for a short time? :D
ReplyDeleteThe first time, we stayed for 4 days and 3 nights. The second time, we stayed for 3 days and 2 nights. After that, we left Milan, but went back for another 2 days and one night (before our flight back to Manila).
ReplyDeleteNo worries if you're staying for just a short time. Milan is very easy to explore... almost all must-sees are concentrated in one area ;)
Of course, don't miss the Duomo cathedral. Just a short walk from there is the Teatro Alla Scalla. And as we said here, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele is our fave =) Just walk around the Piazza and you'll enjoy Milan for sure!
The bone chapel is also something you might want to see. Not a lot of travel sites mention this place but we found it very interesting =) Enjoy Milan!!