Milan — The Few But Great Attractions
Milan was the first and only trip I went on that was organized by an outside party. It was organized by Interact, a group of students that work at bettering the experience for international exchange students. While they usually help with logistics, airport pickups and creating night events, this was the first trip of the semester that went out of the country. The city planned was Milan, Italy… so of course I had to go! It’s funny because before starting this exchange, of all the countries I imagined I’d travel to the most, I thought it would be Italy. And yet, Milan was the only time I visited Italy at all during my exchange — strange how that worked out.
Milan as a city isn’t a huge “must-see” in terms of variety of attractions but it does have a few key sites that make it a great place to visit, especially for a weekend. We arrived in the evening and in an effort to make the most of the little time we had in Milan, we went to the city square right away. The square, home to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping centre and the cathedral (Duomo) are fantastic sights and left me with a good first impression, particularly at night when these attractions are lit up.
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping centre is the main shopping district in Milan where you’ll see all of the big brands operating out of, such as Prada, Louis Vitton, etc. This area is what gives Milan its identity as the fashion capital in Italy. While the mall is technically outdoors (like a strip mall), the walkways between the shops are all protected with a roof. Thus, you’ll experience the outdoor climate but you’re protected from precipitation as you walk between the stores… smart! There’s also a bull on the ground that you pivot and spin your heel on, which is supposed to give you good luck.
Milan Cathedral (in Italian: Duomo) is a church that took nearly 600 years to complete with its officially completion in 1965. There actually used to be a different building in that exact area but a fire nearly a millennium ago forced the city to rebuild it, and it’s now the 5th largest church in the world, and the largest in Italy. It’s located adjacent to the shopping centre.
Our group was a big one, totalling 10 guys, and as you can imagine 10 guys can get pretty hungry. We went to a pizza place called Flash Pizzeria and that’s when I discovered that North American portions are a joke compared to Italians. Here, the pizza for a single person is something you’d feed a family of four with. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this pizza was gigantic — use the fork as a comparison. At the end of it all, only 6 of us managed to consume our entire meal (I finished mine in 2nd place). #italianportions are real.
Learning from my dressing mistakes in Barcelona, whenever I travel now, I ensure that I pack at least one super classy outfit because there’s no telling who will be strict on their dress code. Plus, there’s no such thing as overdressing, especially when in Italy. So later that night we went out, received two free drinks upon entry to the club and enjoyed ourselves! Typical top 40 hits but it was a good time.
Morning at the hostel was hell the next day. For starters, 3 bathrooms between 60+ people is a terrible set-up — everything was always occupied! To add, only one bathroom had a shower with hot water but that one in particular didn’t have any curtains or even a showerhead holder— just a tub and a shower wand hanging down. Additionally, the toilet always leaked water making a stream of water flow from the toilet down the long, narrow bathroom making Lykke Li’s song “I Follow Rivers” have a whole new meaning to us. The room locks weren’t very secure either and the so-called 24-hour reception consisted of a late aged Italian man (who can’t speak any English) whose only objective is to hit a buzzer on the intercom to open the main door and then fall back asleep on a tiny sofa. Very odd place.
Anyhow, that morning we went back to the city square and instead of just looking at the outside of the Milan Cathedral, we walked not inside but on top of the building! Yes, as a tourist attraction you can walk 250 stone steps that spiral to the top of the church for some neat views of the city.
It’s not so much the view of the city that’s impressive but the ability to walk all about the roof of this gigantic building. A very close up view of the structure’s inner façade gave me a renewed appreciation for old architecture and I was in awe. Everywhere I turned was a mark of detailed craftsmanship that justified why it took centuries to build this structure. If it wasn’t for the fact we wanted to visit a few other landmarks that day, I could have easily spent another couple hours up here; it was awesome.
I will admit that the metro station in Milan is quite good, and large. Getting from one place to the other is relatively easy and the 48-hour passes are priced reasonably (definitely cheaper than even one day in London). We got to see the Museum of Ancient Art (in Italian: Museo d’Arte Antica), which is situated in the Sforza Castle of Milan and holds a variety of sculptures and artifacts.
A walk through the park at the other end of the Museum brought us near a historical arc (very popular these arcs are in Europe!)— this one called the Arch of Peace.
The sun came down fast though and by this time, it became really dark making the above landmarks all that I saw in Milan. I know I missed some other big things like Santa Maria delle Grazie where the painting of The Last Supper is located, but something like that requires advanced tickets. The one thing I really regret missing was the San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore; a church that’s interior is nearly completely hand-painted into beautifully decorated walls. But aside from these things, there wasn’t too much more! Sure, there’s shopping too, but unless you’re willing to throw down hundreds of dollars, you’re window-shopping the entire time. Perhaps part of the blame can be shifted to the short amount of time I had in Milan, but in full honesty, a weekend in Milan was enough for me!
The night out that Saturday was one of the best I had in a while (rivaling the fun I had in Ibiza). The club was called… “The Club”. I’m dead serious. Sounds pretty pretentious, but it really proved itself as one of the best clubs in Milan as the night went on. Started off with top 40s as usual but by 3:00 a.m., the music suddenly shifted to popular punk rock and alternative bands like blink-182, Green Day and The Killers. After this, it went straight into house music and club beats. For whatever reason, that punk/alt rock gave me a burst of new energy and I felt more alive near the end of the night than at the beginning. I had so much energy that I ended up being the last person on the dance floor and danced solo to the DJ’s mixes. I definitely made myself a star on a few phone videos that night. I stayed there until the club closed for the night, which was exactly 5:40 a.m. To end it off on a funny note, upon returning to the hostel, my suspicions about the Italian reception man were confirmed when I saw him cuddled with a blanket on the tiny sofa. Yup, he definitely lived there.
Overall, Milan was a good trip. Again, it didn’t appear that there were a lot of “big ticket” places to visit but the things I did see I really enjoyed. Not to mention my belly was very satisfied with those fantastically oversized meals. Top it off with hilarious club nights and I’d say Italy is okay in my books! Though next time I return to Italy, it’ll be to visit the entire country and go down the “boot” as intended. Now THAT will be a trip!
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This blog entry is part of the publication Robert Cekan Travels & was originally written on December 8, 2012
Robert Cekan is a young entrepreneur and proud Hamiltonian. He is the founder of the Hamilton discovery website True Resident, as well as Cekan Group, a property management group. He is also a Hamilton REALTOR® with Ambitious Realty Advisors Inc., Brokerage and an active blogger.
For all of Robert’s projects, please visit robertcekan.com
