Three Days in Milan

 If you've been following along on this trip, we just drove across Ireland from Galway to Dublin. It took about 2.5 hours and we had plenty of time to turn in the rental car, ride the tram to the airport and spend two hours waiting in the Priority Pass lounge for our 2.5 huour one way flight to Milan arriving at 9:40 PM. The cost of the flight was $86 each.

This is where the trip gets a little more interesting so pay attention. Im a pretty experienced traveller so my plan was to arrive in Milan, walk outside to the cab stand, show the driver the address of my Airbnb and be tucked in by 11 PM. 

Turns out Milan is a much larger city than I had expected. While we were waiting for our bags at the baggage claim, I happened to look up and see a sign that advertised cab rides to Milan City Center for 122 EUR....what??????? thats abour $140 . This was not in my plans! I quickly pulled up the maps on my phone to check the distance to our Airbnb and it was 25 miles away! This was a clear failure of planning on my part. I made sure our Airbnb was close to the train station but I did not make sure our Airbnb was close to the airport. 

Fortunately, we are experienced travelers and my wife is a quick thinker. I booked an Airbnb by the train station so lets fingd the train and get there. Turns out there was a train station in the airport, it was about 10 EUR each to get to Milan Centrale so off we went on the train. It took about 45 minutes but ended up costing $25 instead of $140. 

We arrived at Milan Centrale train station and it was magnificent. The building was enormous, gorgeous and very Italian. We found our way out, programmed a phone to walk to our Airbnb. It was a ten minute walk with luggage but still no problem. Make sure you have modern rolling luggage with four wheels.  

Ten minute walk from the train station was our home for the next three nights. We chose an Airbnb in Milan because we pack fairly light, we spent the last few days in a hotel and now we have an Airbnb with a washing machine. We can do laundry and start fresh with outr clothes when we leave Milan We have learned through our traves to pack a few laundry pods in a sealed bag(just in case they get popped) and most Europeans do not have clothes dryers so we use the hangers provided in the Airbnb to dry our clothes before the next hop. We also pack one of these....

Day 1 in Milan was a quick walk to Centrale Station and a short train ride to Plaza Di Duomo and the site of Duomo Di Milano and the world famous shopping area. We paid for the Cathedral tour, it took about 90 minutes and the work was incredible. We spent the rest of the afternoon having lunch and visiting the high end shops that Milan is famous for.

Day2 in Milan wasnt in Milan at all, we planned a daytrip to Italy's famous Lake Como. Our Airbnb was a 5 minute walk to the main train station and Lake Como was about 60 minutes away on a train that cost aboout $10 each. Lake Como was everything we had heard, absolutely gorgeous scenery surrounded by fantastic outdoor dining. We decided to ride a water taxi that stopped in all five or six villages on our end of the lake. We didnt even get off, we just rode around on the boat in awe of the beauty we were seeing. After spending the day at the lake we returned to Milan on the same train. The ticket was roundtrip. Enjoyed a nice dinner near our Airbnb and then retired for the evening.

Day 3 in Milan was a great example of poor planning on my part. The one thing I absolutely wanted to do was see the Davinci's painting of "The Last Supper" The painting is housed in Santa Maria Del Grazie. We boarded the subway and off we went....upon our arrival I was quickly advised there were no tickets available for the rest of the week. What a huge disappointment! But, Im in Milan Italy so how bad can it be. I highly recommend purchasing tickets online ahead of your trip if you wish to see this work of art. We spent the day just touring around Milan and then went back to pack up for our trip to La Spezia in the morning. 

Our Airbnb was a solid B, it had everything we needed for a short stay, including a washing machine. The air conditioner worked well and kept us cool at night. The bed is up in a loft and the television is downstairs in a small living room. The unit is small but just fine for a couple. Again, nothing luxurious but perfectly fine. It was within a 5-7 minute walk of the main train station, it was surrounded by dining and even had a kitty coffe house. The area felt safe and we would stay again. 

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/851525723389795468?source_impression_id=p3_1723744865_P3v6Q5EEjHmfmaTN

Lisa and I also found the ATM Milano ap very useful as it shows the subway stops and helps you plan a route in english.

Tomorrow we will be travelling by train to La Spezia, On the Italian coast so we can visit the fishing villages of Cinque Terre! 

Stay tuned

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