Italy in Ten Days Part V: Milan.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the time of my life on a ten day trip in Italy with a dear friend.

We biked around a castle, got seriously sunburnt, ate like there was no tomorrow- and lived to tell the tale!

And Milan- the ever hip and cosmopolitan Milan- was our very last stop!

Day 1

Now if Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre and Venice was all about the food and sights, Milan was definitely all about the shopping!

It really was by no coincident Milan was our last stop- although I did have my luggage pretty full and heavy with bottles of truffle oil and balsamic vinegars by then.

As seems to be the running theme through all our destinations, we arrived in Milan pretty late in the day, after a long train ride from Venice- pretty much leaving us with time to find our hotel, check in, ooh and aah over the room for two seconds and head out for dinner.

The Milan train station

Our accommodation (our last on this trip- sob!)

Now I have to admit that of all the places we visited, Milan was the place I did the least research on especially on cafes and restaurants. So when it came to our dinner option, we did what we did best when we didn’t know our options- ask the concierge.

And that was pretty much how we found ourselves sitting in a restaurant a good twenty minute walk from our hotel.

Toasted pita, beef carpaccio

Seafood pasta (with spaghetti carbonara in the background), triple mousse cake

An assortment of pastries

As delicious as dinner was (the beef carpaccio was especially good!), we couldn’t resist capping the night with a delicious assortment of pastries from a bakery just a stone’s throw from our hotel.

Day 2

Breakfast at the hotel!

Streets of Milan

Day Two saw us starting a nice, slow day with a leisurely, hearty breakfast before heading out to explore what Milan had to offer (read: shopping!).

Our first stop was to the Duomo Cathedral!

Waiting for the train

The Cathedral in all its magnificent glory, touching the worn off leg for good luck!

The Duomo Cathedral was just breathtaking gorgeous! I could have stood there forever just gazing in awe at the arches and columns.

But as mesmerizing as the Cathedral was, we certainly had to tear ourselves away from it and head to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II- conveniently located just next to the cathedral- for some retail therapy!

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Retail therapy love at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II!

A much needed cool down from the heat in the form of a melon and dark chocolate gelato!

Before long, we found ourselves back at our hotel, exhausted after a long day of shopping. But of course, we couldn’t let our last night in Italy slip us by so off we went to the little cafe across the hotel highly recommended by the concierge for some delish take-away.

Our feast on our last night – margherita pizza, fettuccine alle vongole and a bottle of Moscato!

Day 3

Seemingly just as soon as our trip had finally arrived, it was our last day in Italy. And with just a couple of hours to kill before we had to head to the airport, we did what we knew how to do best- roam the streets and hopefully get in some retail therapy.

Via Montenapoleone – every high end brand you can think of in one amazing place!

Back at Duomo Cathedral!

And shop we really did! I really don’t know how I fit all my shopping that afternoon into my already stuffed luggage! It really was quite a miracle I managed to get everything and still had a good 5kg in luggage allowance to spare!

Approaching the Malpensa airport (sobsob!)

So just like that, our ten day trip had come to an end.

I had such an incredible time taking in the sights, eating like there was no tomorrow and spending time with a dear friend but I will just say one more thing – if you can make it back home with your friendship still very much intact after ten days of scorching, 32 degrees heat (and a good chuck of that time in accommodation with no air conditioning), finding ourselves stranded thanks to a public transport strike, enduring horrendously long train rides and getting lost umpteen times, you know you’ve certainly got a friendship that will last a lifetime (much love, darling- and congrats again on finishing your dissertation! xx)!

Posted by thecoffeesnob on September 6, 2010

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