We have had a lovely time here in Milan. Only here for 2 nights (one full day), but we enjoyed our day in the city today.
Our observation of Milan is that it seems quite clean and liveable, while we found Florence to be very busy – actually, manic – and quite dirty and run down.
We have been staying at Fabio’s apartment here, just outside of Milan. It’s newly renovated and quite chic, and very comfortable. Once again, and like Laura’s place outside of Florence, we had access to private parking inside a gated complex, so Claude had another day off to rest.
Lazy thing he is.
But we are going to get our pound of flesh out of him tomorrow.
We only had one thing planned for today, and that was a walking tour that included the coffee culture in Milan.
We were public transport ninjas again today. The walking tour started at 9.30am and so we had an early breakfast, and coffee, and were out the door early and heading for the bus.
They have a really neat system here where you just tap on (and sometimes off) with your credit card, and so long as you use the same card each time you are only charged a maximum of €7.40 per 24 hour period, and then you ride for free.
We left home and it was raining already .. not a great start. We walked the 300m or so in the rain to the bus stop and took the 83 bus for several stops, then switched to the Metro and caught the M3 into the centre of Milan.
Milan – like every other place we have been in Italy – has a huge duomo. I may have previously (and incorrectly) stated that duomo means dome, but it actually means cathedral.
My bad. It’s an easy mistake to make.
We got to the duomo and looked around to get our bearings. One of us needed a toilet stop, so we went to the local McDonald’s, bought a coffee, and used their toilets.
I’m thinking about starting a new blog – “European Toilet Adventures”. Or maybe just “I’m-a-peeing”.
I don’t know if there is a heightened security risk in Milan, but McDonald’s had three security guys dressed all in black patrolling the store. I’m not sure if having three security guards patrolling the store was supposed to make me feel safer, but frankly it just made me nervous.
We walked to the starting point of our walking tour, and by the time we got there the rain was coming down hard and it was very gusty. My poor folding umbrella had gone inside out several times, and I suspect it may not be coming home to Australia with me.
That is a possible birthday gift idea for anyone following along. Worst case, when I re-read this in the future, I’ll remember why my umbrella is broken or missing.
Our guide today was Maria, who hails originally from Naples. She now lives in Milan and loves the coffee culture here, and we like coffee too … so it was a match made in Heaven.
She showed us various sights around Milan, but also took us to various coffee shops to try different types of coffee.
As I’m sure you appreciate, Italians tend to drink a cappuccino in the morning, but after lunch they only drink espresso. Personally I find espresso to be quite bitter, but when in Rome … or Milan.
So that’s the way we drank them.
The first coffee we tried was at a little hole-in-the wall place where they make coffee the traditional way from Naples, which is to use the crema mixed with sugar, and then add it to another shot of coffee. I understand that the traditional Naples coffee is an arabica bean that is medium roasted.
We each had a shot of that, and it was nice, but quite sweet. The traditional Naples coffee is served with a shot glass of sparkling water, and you are expected to drink the water first to cleanse your palette, then the coffee.
Drinking the water after the coffee is poor form, and frowned upon.
Not the way it is done in Italy.
Maria told us that the coffee shop have a system where you can pre-buy a coffee for a homeless person. They write each coffee up on a blackboard with the name of the person who gave it.
When a homeless person asks if there are any coffees available, they get given one and they are told who bought it for them.
Maria also said that there is a Netflix show called “Coffee for all” that tells this story.
That’s three coffees so far, and it was only 10.00am. We also had a croissant filled with pistachio cream, but only because they had just come out of the oven, and we didn’t want to offend them.
€5.30 for the lot.
I’m told that what we had is actually a traditional Italian breakfast, and in fact a few times now we have bought coffee and a pastry in Italy, and the pastry has been handed to us wrapped in a napkin and is typically eaten on the go.
When we came out of the coffee shop, the sun was out and we were blessed with blue skies.
Next stop was another coffee shop that sells northern Italian coffee – aribica and robusta blend, dark roasted, so strong, and bitter.
A bit like me.
And I have to say it was very bitter. Not my favourite.
That’s 4 coffees now.
Final stop was a place that brews coffees in a moka pot – one of those things you put on the stove. We have one in our caravan and works off the grid.
They had various styles of coffee that we could sample, including caramel, hazelnut, and regular. I can’t say that I’m a fan of flavoured coffee.
That’s 5 coffees, and it’s not even lunch time. I’m sure that I’m starting to see noises … MBW has developed a nasty twitch.
Tour over, we went to a recommended pizza place called Piz, and shared a Margherita pizza. When we get home, I’m looking forward to trying to use what we’ve learned here about pizza and simplify the way we make them.
And pasta too.
By the time we finished lunch it was raining again. Raining hard 😞
After lunch we went to La Scala – an historic opera house that was built around the same time that Captain Cook was discovering Australia. It’s a classically beautiful building, and we went through the museum and watched a part of the rehersal for an upcoming opera.
They also do lots of ballet there with lots of big names. And lots of old costumes on display.
After that we wandered down to what we were told is now the most expensive street in the world, surpassing 5th Avenue in New York.
It was a very unassuming street, and we got in and out without buying anything.
The final thing for today was a visit to Navigli, which is an area just outside of the city that still has some canals and is very much like a little Venice.
We jumped a Metro and a tram to get there, and as we got off the tram, the rain started coming down in sheets.
And we were instantly soaked.
So we changed plans, and went home instead.
It was around 5.00pm when we got home, tired and wet through. But a good tired.
Dinner was leftover gnocchi from last night with some parmesan toast.
Tomorrow we are off to Colmar, back in France. Google Maps says it will be a 5 to 6 hour drive, so we plan to leave early. We will cross Switzerland at some point – likely at 130km/h and without stopping – and get into France around lunchtime. Hopefully we will be at our AirBNB mid- to late-afternoon.
It’s still raining here, so I may need to trade Claude in on an ark.
Yesterday afternoon when we arrived here at Milan, we went for a quick walk of our local area.
Do you remember that I commented about how pharmacies have a condom vending machine outside? Well, our local pharmacy has a vending machine that sells condoms and pregnancy testing kits.
I’m not sure if that means they are not sure of the quality of their condoms, or just want to provide a full end-to-end service to the public.
I’ll give you some photos of Fabio’s place tomorrow night, as I suspect that with a 5 to 6 hour drive tomorrow, I won’t have much other fodder for the blog.
Hopefully the trip tomorrow will be both boring and uneventful.
Those magic beans from this morning have worn off and I need more coffee.
Don’t judge me.
Ciao
#Europe2025