As a budget traveller, I’m always looking for ways to visit the most destinations for the least money. One of my favourite ways to do this is through layovers. I’m currently on my way to Tirana to start my first ever work away, so when I was looking for flights and found a 22-hour layover in Milan would save me £30 on flights, I was all for it. Let it be said that I have spent well more than £30 throughout the day in Milan, but I also get to tick another place from the list without the expense of flights to Milan, or accommodation.
I’ll point out, I have heard mixed reviews about the city, some love it and some hate it, but they love or hate it for the same reasons. Having heard from friends on both sides of the spectrum and seen the city many a time on ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, I kind of knew which side I would be on before I arrived.
The first thing that really shocked me was how ‘run down’ much of the surrounding areas are. I know this isn’t at all specific to Milan, and there are numerous other examples of a place which exudes luxury yet outside the major areas is defaced with graffiti, litter and just generally run down. I landed at Milan Malpensa at 1am, tried to sleep in the airport for a few hour, but just couldn’t nod off, so decided to start my day early. Getting into Milano city was simple enough using google maps but there seemed to be so many routes to choose from depending where specifically you want to be spat out at the end. I opted to take the XP1 train as it was the closest stop to the Duomo Cathedral, as I wanted to take advantage of my early morning and beat the other tourists. The Cathedral was stunning, and catching the sun coming up as I arrived was definitely a bonus. I don’t know if this is slightly uncultured to say, and obviously they’re all so different but these large religious monuments are kind of just a must for traveller, to the Sagrada Famillia of Milan.
On my walk from the train station to the Duomo, I walked through Sforzesco Castle, which was quite breathtaking – or maybe that was the insane amount of runners out so early; honestly it’s an epidemic. There seemed to be a music event on inside which runs for a few months and could be an interesting thing to look out for if you have a trip to Milan upcoming. From the Duomo, I wanted to visit Parco Sempione, which I had to walk all the way back to the Castle and then some to get to. I’d like to say instances such as these will persuade me to actually plan a sightseeing route for when I arrive somewhere, but honestly, I never have, and seemingly never will. This said, the 12kg backpack and a bulging tote bag was really difficult on my back and shoulders and seriously changed how I think my day would have panned without so much weight. I’d have been less sweaty for a start. As this was an extra for my trip, in a place I’d never been particularly drawn to, I really wanted to keep the spending to a minimum and refused to take the metro around the city. This may be a ‘more fool me’ situation and whilst my shoulders are really not happy with that decision my fake Louis Vuitton purse is. I spent a few hours in the park which is always one of my favourite things to do in any city I visit, but again, nothing about the park was that great. The ‘fake arc de triumph’ Arco della Pace was pretty stunning though. But again comparable he similar monuments in Paris and another in Barcelona. I’m not sure what it was but I just didn’t love anything about the city, but I do understand its pull for other people.
When in Italy, do as the Italians do, and I definitely did that. Starting my day with coffee and a cigarette, and after all my walking of course I had to get pizza. Oh My God did it deliver. I’ve had Italian pizza before when I visited Venice 4 years ago, but I’m running low on the authentic Italian pizza experience. I went to a pizzeria close to the arc which I just happened upon, called Mammamina, and THIS was what made the layover and the following stress worth it. The staff were lovely and my mouth is salivating just thinking about my food. I’m always a pepperoni girl but I decided to just go for a simple margarita and it was everything I wanted. The tomato sauce was simply stunning, the cheese pull was something I couldn’t replicate and, the base cooked to perfection. Finished with a ball of mozzarella and a basil leaf it was delectable. I finished with an espresso that hit all the right spots and I could redeem myself after leaving all the crusts from my pizza. (I’m not one of those people, I swear, I just knew I couldn’t eat it all and didn’t want to waste valuable stomach space on crust.) It came with bread that I didn’t touch – again to save room, but I wish I brought it with me. Only a small gripe, which was it didn’t feel like there was aircon in the building as my whole body was damp and sticky from my walk, I had to peel my dress from my body.
After my food, I headed to Milan Bergamo airport, slightly too early in the hopes I might catch some sleep in the airport. Wishful thinking as the whole airport experience was pretty atrocious. The airport is pretty far from the city centre, so be aware of that if you have flights to or from this airport. It took almost two hours to get to Bergamo. Again, with many different routes, and requiring two types of transport. I opted for the number 10 tram as I know Milan has one of the most historical tram lines so I wanted that experience which was lovely, especially with the open windows. The journey was slightly tainted by a drunk man shouting almost the entire ride, but what to do. I then found a shuttle to Bergamo airport which took a further hour, and I did manage to catch some sleep on the bus. I arrived at about 4pm, 7 hours before my flight but realised my chance of another sleep was slim when the arrivals and departures were all in the same place and 19 out of the 40 flights on the board had been significantly delayed. The pre-security area had probably less than 50 seats and was just not a very nice place to be waiting. Granted I was super early but honestly the wait was awful. I consider myself lucky as my flight to Tirana has just been called to board only an hour behind schedule compared to some 14 hour delays I have seen on the screen for the past 8 hours.
My concluding thoughts on Milan are that I would describe it as a marmite city: loved and hated for just what it is. For me, I’m not a luxury traveller, nor am I much into Italian designers or swanky bars. I have been to other cities that combine the both and enjoy a stroll down the nice streets but Milan, in my humble opinion, feels like a façade of ‘luxury’ to cover up a city that isn’t at all welcoming and has little personality. It has some great photo spots, gorgeous food and obviously a great amount of art and culture. But, for me, I hope Tirana will be more my kind of city as I write this upon my arrival.
Catch you later, Lil 🙂