The Duomo and more

Outside and around the Duomo

I had the alarm set for 0630 for a video call with my brother at 0730 to help with some issues.  Despite the early wake-up, I didn’t set out till 1000.  I didn’t feel the urge to explore Milan apart from some nominal sights.

I took the metro to San Babila where the shopping area of Monte Napoleone where all the brand names have their flagship stores.  I wasn’t impressed by the area.  It simply didn’t look like a nice area.

It wasn’t far to walk to Milan’s cathedral or Duomo.  It was still too early for me for my visit, which I had pre-booked for 1230.  I wandered to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II, a fancy shopping mall completed in 1877, where it was crazily busy.  This place is far nicer than Monte Napoleone and some of the big names are represented here too.

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A little after midday, I decided that I should be fine to queue up for my 1230 Duomo entry.  I had pre-booked the combo ticket which gave me the rooftop-by-lift, cathedral, archaeological area and museum.

There were several entrances to the complex.  One for the cathedral only, one for the rooftop-by-stairs, and two for the rooftop-by-lift (with one marked as fast-track).  I had no idea the difference between the two rooftop-by-lift entrances so I chose the fast-track one with no queue, as opposed to the one with the long queue.

I was up on to the mid-level rooftop in no time, walking around the perimeter of the Duomo’s backside (eastern-end).  The route took me to the northern side and at the front end of the building I started the short ascent by steps to the top-level rooftop.

The shock of seeing such a large crowd hit me.  The queue to descend down the steps stretched about two-thirds the length of the roof.

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I spent some time enjoying the view from various vantage points before joining the queue to descend down to the cathedral by steps.  The steps exited by the south-side altar where out tickets were checked for entry into the cathedral.

Mass was still in progress as I walked around admiring the vastness of this amazing cathedral, its stained-glass windows, murals and floor.  The place was so large that the crowd didn’t interfere with the mass held in a cordoned-off section close to the high altar.

I joined the queue to go downstairs to the archaeological area.  Here we saw the ruins of an old basilica from many centuries before the current 1812 building.

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I knew my ticket gave me access to the museum but I had trouble finding it.  There weren’t any signs.  It wasn’t until the evening that I realised it was in a nearby building and that the ticket also gave me access to a separate church in another part of the city.  Ah well, I had had quite enough already anyway.

Despite having seen only one major sight, it was nearly 1500 by the time I returned to the apartment after a light lunch and a quick trip to the supermarket.  I regret not having bought some heat-and-eat meals for I really didn’t want to walk much more in the evening with my toe blister.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to go far to find something which appealed to me for dinner.  Tonight, it was a simple Turkish veal-and-turkey doner kebab on rice.