Hi everyone, I got back from Milan 3 days ago now so I can finally sit down and tell you all about it!
Overall, Milan is a beautiful city! Just like most of Italy, the streets are bursting with culture and history, which is something you don't see as powerfully in somewhere like London nowadays. The pebbled streets and historic buildings filled with great architecture and detail really are breathtaking.
One of the main sites to see when you are in Milan is the 'Duomi di Milano', which is again an amazing building to see! The building took over six centuries to build and is dedicated to St.Mary herself. To enter the Duomo and to take the lift onto the terrace costs €16, it costs less if you want to take the stairs to the terrace without going inside the Cathedral of €7.
This is the Statue of Mary, this same figure is on top of the highest spire of The Duomo. Apparently, when you go to see her, just looking at her will bring you joy and peace..
At all the main tourist attractions there are men trying to sell you flowers, bracelets, photographs and just basically anything they can! If you visit Milan, they really won't give up trying to sell you things, as I guess that is their only form of income, but as I learnt the best way for them to get the message is to just look in another direction and don't say anything!
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is the oldest shopping mall in Milan. This is where the first ever Prada shop was opened and the gallery is filled with luxurious brands, such as Chanel, Versace and Louis Vuitton. The gallery isn't like a regular mall, just like all of Italy it was made with elegance and beauty which really makes it a breath taking sight to see! This is situated right next to The Duomo, so don't worry, you wouldn't have a long walk! My student loan sadly couldn't buy me a new Gucci bag, so as you can imagine, I wasn't shopping here, haha!
Now, when people think of Italy, one of the first things that spring to mind is Pizza and Pasta, right? WELL, none of their Pizza or Pasta made me go WOW! I blame my mum who is a really good cook, that I found the Italian food to be quite bland and boring. Maybe because we are in the city they prepare the food quicker as they have many mouths to feed, whereas, if you went into the more quieter areas you would find real authentic Italian food. The Pizza is definitely better than the pasta though as the cheese literally melts in your mouth!
As Courtney is gluten intolerant it made the process of finding somewhere to eat quite a struggle, so if you do have gluten intolerance you may face difficulty with finding places to go but I guess that's the same wherever you go but especially in Italy when they live off gluten foods... So this may be a reason for why I am probably not the best person to judge the food due to the restrictions of where we could eat, but from what I did have, it wasn't special!
One night, we went to Maio Restaurant, this was eight stories high, looking over The Duomo. I did my research beforehand and everybody spoke about the famous Milanese Risotto which is something you must try when visiting Milan. This was a nice meal, but again, I've had better.
If you read my last blog post, you will know I was worried about it raining in Milan during our time there. It only rained for a few minutes occasionally, so the rooftop pool was very much used! We stayed in The Hotel VIU Milan which is in a decent location. It takes around 25-30 minutes to reach the Duomo by foot and you walk through a very large and pretty park and you will pass the Sforza Castle - so you are literally sight seeing on the way!
Additionally, it would be great to to visit The Last Supper painting in Milan made by Leondardo Da Vinci, I know sometimes the tickets to see this iconic piece of art work need to be booked three months in advance as it sells out as it's understandable that everyone wants to see it!
I would definitely recommend visiting Milan for 2 days as I think you can see everything in that time. It is a beautiful city and I can't wait to explore more of what Italy has to offer. There are so many places like Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples and the list goes on!
I hope you enjoyed this post and made you consider Milan as a new place to go! If you're flying from London, the flight is only 1 hour and 20 minutes which makes it even more worth while.
Make sure you look at my Instagram account which is linked on this website where you can see my Milan Story. (@xianpelaez)
I'm going to try and write two blog posts a week from now on so make sure you subscribe! We also have a couple of collab's coming soon so make sure you stay tuned for those!
Have a great week,
Xian xx