Interrail Day 2 & 3 - Milano
Arno and I arrived in Milan late on Sunday evening, going directly to the hostel and calling it a day after a quick dinner.
After our two nights in YellowSquare Milan, we can both agree it's a very nice hostel. Although we didn't take part in the activities offered, the overall atmosphere is very relaxed and welcoming, everything is very clean and works well. We definitely recommend :)
On the Monday morning, we decided to sleep a little more after the long travelling day of Sunday, so we got up around 10, and were off to explore the "capital of fashion".
Overall, it's a very beautiful city, there's certainly a lot to see. I think it's definitely a place to see when visiting Italy. However, as for all major cities, it's very constructed and you can't find so much green areas, but I was quite surprised by how uncrowded the city was (probably also due to the heat).
We spent the whole day on foot, saving on public transport fares!
After a bit of walking from our hostel through the streets of Milan, we arrived at the Università Statale di Milano.
After this nice historical stop, we continued towards the Piazza del Duomo, where the famous Milan Cathedral is located. This square was full of pigeons and people taking posing for social media (not so different after all 🙂).
Walking to the other side of the cathedral, we were delighted to find gigantic advert signs on the historical monument.
The first church we visited was the Chiesa del Carmine, close to the castle.
On the square right outside this church was a little drinks shop, so we stopped for a refreshment. Not the cheapest but so nice in the VERY warm weather.
Speaking of weather, we survived the 39°C in the city by staying the shade as much as we could, staying hydrated at the many public water fountains, and cooling down in churches - the thickness of the rock walls acts as great insulation, godsend in the burning sun.
Inside the Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, we were surprised to find a crypt with a couple of centuries old bodies!
We also tried to see the castle and it’s park, but unfortunately the gate was closed when we got there 😅
We then finished our day at the Navigli district to have dinner.
Originally, we wanted to eat at Pizzium, our local friend’s favourite pizza place, but we didn’t manage to book ahead and by the time we got there it was fully booked until late, so we just walked around to find another place to eat. The Buona Forchetta seamed among the cheapest so we stopped there. We both had a nice plate of Tagliatelle alla Carbonara.
After that meal, we walked about 35 mins back to our hostel, grabbing a bottle of milk for the next morning‘s breakfast and called it a night. Who would’ve thought walking through a big city all day by 36°C was exhausting??
The next day, checkout was at 10, then we went straight to Milano Centrale station to catch a train to Como Lago, a big lake we spotted on the map and on recommendations.
We didn’t have much time to stay there before we needed to catch the train back in Milan to go to Catelfranco Veneto, but it was a very pleasant stop.
And that’s it for now, I’ll see you here again at the end of the Venice/Castelfranco Veneto chapter!
