Mick and I decided to have a getaway and we thought of Milan, for one simple reason……it was so cheap!!! We booked through Easy jet and found a return flight from Cyprus for 80 euros, what a bargain!!!

We arrived quite late, there were buses available that would take you into the city for 10 euros per person so we opted for this choice. It took us about 1 hour and the bus stopped in front of Central station. We walked to our hotel which was half an hour on foot. We like to walk everywhere as we feel this is the best way to see the city. Having reached our hotel using Google maps, what would we do without Google?! We stayed at Hotel Poma a decent little hotel, it was clean and comfortable. By the time we got there, it was rather late so we called in a night and turned in.

Having no breakfast option in the hotel we decided to see what options were available we stumbled across this really cute
bakery called La Panizzeria, an Italian bakery, we fell in love with this place and had breakfast there every morning. We would have a savoury pastry with cheese and mushroom or Italian style sausage rolls with a couple of lattes and would pay 5 euros. All locals would walk through the door to buy their fresh bread and pastries.

Milan is an easy city to explore and what we loved about the city was the people, everyone was really friendly and spoke really good English so asking for directions was never an issue.

Having walked towards the main city centre we saw from a distance the Duomo Cathedral so we headed that way……as were 95% of everybody else in the city it seemed…..but it was beautiful and we wanted to explore so we did. We climbed the stairs to the top of the cathedral, the cost for both of us was 14 euros and even though Mick isn’t the religious type, just for the historical value, it is so worth the price. Having reached the top of the winding steps to the top……and somewhat out of breath…. you get to experience the amazing view of the city, great for taking pictures and we took loads!! The interior of the cathedral was just amazing, although oddly, there’s a 2 euro charge per person if you would like to take pictures!!

Opposite the Cathedral was Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a historic building where we were able to grab a coffee (and we’re talking Italian coffee here……like no other) and admired the architecture and watched the world go by. It is very expensive to shop here as there are predominantly shops from the designer labels but window shopping is great too, especially for us budget tourists.

Milan had a great nightlife, we would highly recommend Corso Garibaldi, during the day there are loads of cafes and I must say that the cafes in Milan are exceptional in every way……and not only the coffee that I mentioned earlier but the décor, just going into one of these cafes or even an ice cream parlour is an event in itself, so much history and architecture to die for. By night the place is packed with locals either clubbing or bar hopping in the numerous bars that are scattered around….. oh there are great local restaurants too, but get there early as Corsa Garibaldi is rocking, especially on a Saturday night.

A few places which I would recommend for a nice meal out would be Luna Rossa a great Italian place for lunch with loads of locals. We opted for a pasta dish and the calzone, 15 euros for both, amazing value. Burger Wave an extremely cute and tiny place with the best burgers in town, it has an Aussie theme and thought it’d be full of tourists but we were pleasantly surprised to find it almost totally full of locals…….and as they say, if the locals love it, it must be good!! As a vegetarian, I opted for the veggie burger and Mick had a full-on Texan bbq burger, with 2 soft drinks we paid 16 euros. L’Imperiale Chinese Restaurant was also a great place to eat, we followed the locals to this one so we knew it would be good and we were not disappointed. 2 starters, 2 mains plus drinks and we paid 28 euros. The food was absolutely delicious but to be honest, that really isn’t a surprise, generally, the food in Milan is really good and also very affordable…..then…the creme de la creme!!…… Fiordilatte Gelateria Pasticceria Caffetteria!!! this little gem was right across the road from the L’Imperiale and it was the most amazing gelateria/cafe/chill-out lounge ever!!!…and it had the best Gelato too. Guys, this place is a must-visit if you ever manage to get to Milan

If shopping is your thing then make sure to bring a stash of cash as you will in paradise. Milan had so many designer shops, we just happened to be in town during Milan fashion week so you can imagine the buzz around the city. Corso Buenos Aires is the main High street with an abundance of shops for all budgets. I personally loved walking through this place as the atmosphere was great….probably heightened by the fact that all the ‘fashion’ attention was on the city.

To sum up, Milan……we were so impressed, you know, sometimes you may feel, if it’s cheap, you’ll get what you pay for, truth is, with Milan (and EasyJet) cheap in this case actually makes for a really enjoyable budget getaway and I can say with great certainty that we will definitely be back there again

Andria

xxxx

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