In Milano

May 7, 2023

a tourist day

Last night`s weather was full of thunder and the sound of heavy rain, but this morning the skies were clearing and the roads almost dry. Perfect timing for the storm to end! The weather here looks unstable for the next few days but it should be cycle friendly.

We have been storing our bikes in our hotel room and made our way with them down the elevator and headed out on our adventure to Milano a little after ten o'clock. Without a planned routing, we rode back to the Gallarate train station using larger, more direct roads this time. We surprised ourselves by riding past the main town square and church which were quite busy on Sunday morning. It was really quite a beautiful area in Gallarate with a small outdoor market. Unfortunately the stalls were all selling hardgoods and no food. We were also still striking out on breakfast options in cafes and are believing that Italians must survive on cake and coffee for their first meal of the day. We carried on to the train station and stopped at a local store to picked up some water and bananas.

Gallarate main square and fountain. Pat was a little unhappy going to the fashion center of the world in her cycling outfit. I think she looks just great!

Busy place with the church service just ending and a small market in full swing.

Tickets to Milano’s Garibaldi station cost five euros per person plus three euros per bike for the roughly 30 minute -44km trip. The train was modern with level entries from the platform (great for bikes) and reached speeds of 160 mph. The Garibaldi station is also a very modern building that we exited easily and made our way to the street. For today`s adventure of exploring a few of the hotspots of Milano, we slowly rode our bikes and often pushed them through the crowded streets. Obviously this city will be busy on a warm Sunday in May, but it was still very manageable as peak tourist season is not quite here yet.

Our quick trip to Milano was fun but we have little to offer as a way of a travel guide. We went purely to have the experience on a very superficial level. We definite enjoyed the opulence of a big city tourist event but they are not really the focus of our travel.

The 11:35 train into Milano just slightly behind schedule.

Shiny and modern, Garibaldi station is part mall and part train station. We found it very easy to use.

We passed through Porta Garibaldi on route to the very trendy Milano neighbourhood of Brera.

Front gate of Castello Sforzesco. There are much better pictures of this fort but looking at my shots I obviously did not capture them.

Some of the detail on the front entrance of the fort.

Arco della Pace. Begun in 1807 in honour of Napoleon,

Elaborate statue at the top of the arch.

Duomo di Milano took 600 years to build and is the number one attraction - adorned with 135 spires and 3400 statues.

Working on the selfies at the Duomo. At least we are in the picture.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II has the highest end shopping. It looks busy here but we were able to navigate our bikes through very easily. Since there were no bike stands we could not shop. lol

Walking through the gallerie of the who`s who of top world brands.

The floors in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II are amazing.

Even the police dress fashionably in Milan with their white holster belts and accents.

The restaurants that we went by were all full and most had long line ups. Eating in Milan on Sunday afternoon seemed like a popular past time.

A relatively empty Milan Garibaldi station on the way home. We could not find our destination on any of the train routings and needed assistance from the ticket office staff.

Modern trains in Italy even have outlets available to charge your ebike as you travel. Interesting that they have no fear of battery issues happening on board while plugged in.

Beautiful home on route back to the hotel.

We stopped at the Carrefour market on the way back to the hotel and bought some dinner to have in our room as we pack up to begin our tour for real tomorrow. We have booked a number of places on our route but noticed tomorrow's stay was on the wrong date. Good to notice the error and we rebooked, but now need to convince Booking to provide a refund on a non-refundable room five weeks away! Lesson learned - No more bookings for Scott.

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Today's ride: 20 km (12 miles)
Total: 35 km (22 miles)

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Kirsten KaarsooDuring our travels in Italy I found that you are correct, the Italians like cake and coffee for breakfast. It was challenging at times to get a good breakfast to start the cycling day.
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11 months ago

ROSY ColistroPictures are amazing. You both look relaxed!
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11 months ago