Yesterday we took the train from Bergamo into Milan. This is the reason we're in Bergamo - hotels here are cheaper and easier to access here than in Milan. But we had a hard time getting ourselves to the train station and considered skipping it entirely! We're just so tired of big cities and neither of us had any huge interest in Milan other than to get some nice photos for Sacred Destinations. But we dutifully "went to work" and of course ended up having a great time.
The trip didn't start off terribly well, as our train was 30 minutes late and then apparently broke, because we had to unexpectedly change trains later in the journey. That also meant we arrived at a different train station (Porta Garibaldi instead of Centrale), but it didn't make too much difference to us. Milan has five train stations, and most of them aren't very central.
We began the long and uninspiring walk to the center and soon came upon a delicious solution for lunch! A small restaurant had mouth-watering pots of freshly cooked dishes in the window available for takeaway. We got huge portions of food plus drinks for a total of 10 euros, all served up for us by a nice man who appeared to be the chef. We ate on a park bench a few blocks further into the city. Simple, cheap and so delicious.
After still more walking in the heat past ugly modern buildings and lots of traffic, we arrived at the beautiful Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. Built in the 1860s, the Galleria is shaped like an X and open at the ends, allowing a lovely cool breeze to float through.
We used the bathrooms in the Galleria's shiny McDonalds, which David says was the first one to open in Italy. (It was still the only one when he lived near Como in 1985.) Then we wandered in a couple of the fancy shops and I tried on some awesome bug-eye sunglasses at Prada. The salespeople were remarkably nice despite our very non-fashionable appearance. We spent some time in a wonderful little retro shop and I bought some magnets of vintage Vespa ads (big spender, I know!).
Then David spotted a fashion shoot going on nearby, and we joined the small crowd of onlookers. It was just so perfectly Milan!
Then it was off to work at the cathedral, which is right next to the Galleria. We've actually been to Milan before, but only for about 15 minutes! On our honeymoon in 2004, we had an hour between trains and made the bold decision to get on the Metro and try to see some of the city real quick. We emerged from the Metro at the cathedral, only to be greeted by this:
Ah, renovation work. It has been a frequent problem with our visits to old buildings, but this one really surpassed all others in the extent of coverage! We had to laugh, and after a few minutes of looking around the Galleria we had to get back on the Metro to catch our train.
One bonus, however, is that you can walk on the roof! It's really something to wander among all those spires with gleaming white marble underfoot. There are two ways to get up there - the stairs (my choice) or a lift (David's choice).
There were a few places of interest inside the cathedral too, both of which have separate (small) admission prices. First we visited the Treasury, which is in the crypt beneath the altar. It was fantastic, with a good collection of ancient ivory panels and other medieval art. A sign said photos were prohibited, but thankfully the young girl who sold us the ticket didn't seem to care one bit when everyone began to take photos anyway.
And near the entrance door is another stairway that leads down to excavations beneath the cathedral. The foundations are of an Early Christian baptistery and the original cathedral.
Speaking of Ambrose, it was to his church (the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio) that we headed next. It was founded by Ambrose himself in 387 AD and he was buried in it. Milan was quite powerful at the time, and so was Bishop Ambrose.
Despite its ancient origins, the current building dates mainly from the 11th century and is in the Romanesque style. It's an unusual shape, with a big cloister-like porch out front and several towers.
Inside, it is absolutely overflowing with medieval art, including many Romanesque carved capitals, a 4th-century sarcophagus carved with biblical scenes (possibly suggested by Ambrose himself), a 9th-century silver altar, and a 10th-century canopy over the altar.
But probably the most interesting sight was Ambrose himself! He is on display in the crypt, accompanied by two martyrs he had buried there. His skeleton appears to be glazed with something and is dressed in full bishop's finery.
So we only visited one cathedral and one church in Milan, but it took all afternoon and a lot of walking. We were mighty beat by the time we headed home at around 6:30pm. Fortunately there is a Metro stop right next to Sant'Ambrogio that went straight to the Milano Centrale station. We had a nicer train and no problems on our way back to Bergamo, where our hotel (Mercure Palazzo Dolci) is only two blocks from the station.
Bergamo
Our current hotel room, the Mercure Palazzo Dolci in Bergamo.
I haven't seen much of Bergamo, as I've mostly used our spare time here to get caught up on computer work and rest a little. But the afternoon we arrived, David went out exploring and had a really nice time. In Bergamo the Old Town is also the Upper Town (Citta Alta) and you can take a funicular up to it. David walked all around most of the town, had some delicious pizza, and took some very nice pictures.
Today I got this blog and some website stuff done and David went out looking for a laundromat, with no success. We had a great cheap lunch of takeaway pizza (snipped from a full sheet of pizza with large scissors) and strawberry-lemon muffins from a bakery called Tresoldi next to our hotel. We may go up to the Upper Town for dinner this evening, or we may laze out and just stay put!
Tomorrow - France! More on that in a separate post soon.