Took the train at 1pm arriving in Milano around 3pm. Enormous train station building in Milano as it is a major transit centre for many places around Europe.
We had only booked for 3 nights so we knew we would only have a limited time to see the best of the sights. Milano has great transport systems with the trams, buses and the metro. There is an all day transport ticket which is very handy for crossing the city effectively.
We decided on our top few things we wanted to see. The first was The Duomo. The central cathedral.
At the doorway to the right of the main entry was this amazing cooper door with the most intricate pictures depicting the stations of the cross. One of the lower left sections depicting Jesus has been rubbed by so many hands it has been polished back to bright brass.
The square is massive with shopping arcades lining the sides of the square.
We took some time to stroll in the gardens in the centre of the city and enjoyed a few tram rides to some of the residential areas of the city with these beautiful tree lined streets.
One of the highlights for us was to go to see the painting by Leonard da Vinci of the Last Supper painted between 1495 and 1497. He painted the picture directly onto the wall of a Dominican monastery refectory next to Santa Maria Delle Grazie. There were no photos allowed inside the refectory where the painting is, but the church itself is really lovely.
On our first afternoon in Milano we discovered that the only way to purchase tickets to view the Last Supper painting was online, so we got straight onto booking our entry. We were only in Milano for 2 days so we were very excited to see that there were still 3 remaining tickets in only one session available during the entire 2 days we were
there. We quickly booked 2 of those available tickets even though it was for the second viewing of the day at 8.30am. We had to be there 20 minutes before, so the afternoon before we made the trip across Milano to gauge how long we needed to allow to be there on time at that hour of the day and to make sure we were confident we wouldn't get lost finding the church.
Each session is only 15 minutes. The entry is kept to that length of time to help preserve the painting. You go through a series of 2 waiting rooms before proceeding into the refectory to view the painting. This procedure is done to help minimise the amount of moisture and dust that is brought into the room.
It was well worth all the effort. It was amazing, and learning about the history of the painting and how close it has come many times in it's 500 year history to being destroyed is incredible.
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| This is just a photo of the poster on the brochure we were given with our tickets. |
On our last afternoon in Milano after spending some time in the park we took the metro and a tram to the area of Milano which has canal waterways.
It is an area that has been claimed by lots of artists and their workshops and galleries line the canals.
So that was the end of our time in Milano. It was back home to pack up our gear once again and be ready to move on in the morning to Lake Como for a four night stay.
So bye again for now. Lake Como post will be on it's way soon. Cheers.
Hello happy travellers! Oh man, those Milano pics bring back many memories..I remember standing in front of that painting of the Last Supper very well, there wasn't such a time limit though when I was there. And I spent some time more than once on the roof of that church, mostly looking out wondering what might happen, and thinking how different my view was to my rainforest home at Nimbin!!
ReplyDeleteI also spent many hours on many days at Duamo, I was enthralled by the beauty of the floor!
U are doing a marvelous job with your blog Linda, and the photos are great, keeps us connected.