Last post, last destination: Milan. By the time I'm writing this final post about Fabioland, I've already reached home turf in Porto Santo, Portugal. If you wonder why Milan's our terminus, it's simple: cheap, wide-ranging no-frills connections to all over Europe (in our case Finland & Portugal). This is how we got to Italy, a country of Garibaldi, Gomorra & Gelato, where banana trees are prone to grow more densely.
We caught the 7:30 ferry to Ancona, which anticipating the atmosphere on the other side of the Adriatic, parted almost two hours delayed. The ten hour Blue Lines cruise cost some 45€, but parting from Split with internet bookings you can commute with a more economical 28€. We got ourselves all comfy on the iron beach of the upper middle deck, semi tucked in our hobo-bags & got some well-earned hazy sleep, the sun smoothly shining against our foreheads in the midst of several bigoted, disapproving looks. Woke up just in time for the orange-explosion sunset; one beautiful motherfucker.
Just like shooting the sun
We were supposed to take the 2:03am train (30€) to Milan, so we had like three hours to kill in Ancona, a small immigrant-nest who scrapes along thanks to its big, well-connected harbor. Not much to really see in there, have a pizza or something..Smoked the remains of our 5g's, celebrating seven trouble-free border crossings. Got onto the delayed, rusty, looked-better-in-Kosovo Trenitalia half past two. Despite our most ambitious efforts, sleeping was somewhat impossible, due to a pair of smelly Italiana feet a few inches from your face. The bumpy ride got us into waking..no, still sleeping Milan at 7am. Accompanied Robert to the airport bus; all buses to the three different airports, Malpensa, Linate & the charter-only Bergamo, part from the same platform just next to Milano Centrale railway station.
The (in)famous Easy Jet of cigarettes. 70 cents a pack, Drina is one of the hidden pearls of Montenegro's agriculture. Go local, always.
Milano Centrale, the most dangerous spot in Milan
My flight would leave pastaland only the next day, in the afternoon, so I started discovering Milan by trying to find a wifi, to book a place to stay & sleep the day. There was just too many banana trees growing in there, I had to work my way through the streets with an Inca-era jumbo machete. Nobody knew where to find internet. Some didn't even know internet at all. Asked in three nearby cafes, none had wifi. Went to McDonalds, nothing..just more bananas. Walked in a dozen of hotels: “internet only for the guests, police don't like”. Now let's just pause for a second. This is bloody western Europe we're in! It wasn't even this hard in Albania! So I scanned for some international brands & spotted a big Hilton sign a few blocks away. You had to pay for the wifi, of course, this is upmarket Milan, but they at least allowed me to use it. The jewdar was once again scanning attentively hostelbookers, & found in between the 24€ & the 31€, an acceptable 12€ bunk in Hostel3, just a ten-minute bus ride from the railway station. Got in there: nice, clean rooms with welcoming staff. By then it was almost one o'clock sunday afternoon. Dead-tired after sleeping in boats & trains, dived in the Ariel-smelling sheets & slept until 6pm. Got a quick bite, strolled around the neighborhood & planned my next morning & afternoon in Milan before my 5pm flight.
More bananas..the huge, for-all-eyes-open Milano Centrale clock is 20 min ahead of Milan time..then again time is a wavering concept amongst Fabios
We were already warned: Milan is one costly son of a bitch. The capital of the northern Lombardy region is Italy's second largest city with 1.3 million in proper Milan, exceeding well over 7 mil on the whole metropolitan area. A city founded by Celtic people, later on ran by the Roman Empire, the Spanish & Napoleon, has now become the cream of the wealthy north, functioning as the business centre of boot-country. Milan, a city where metro station's have fashion houses names, remains the high baller in fashion markets, hosting twice a year fairs for the designers, fashion-aficionados, supermodels & international paparazzi. All in all, Milan is a Global Alpha City with a major global influence in commerce, industry, sport, literature, art & media. All this contributes to the 12th ranking spot in Worlds Most Expensive Cities. Therefore, not exactly a backpackers oasis.
You sometimes won't even recognize from the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Milano that you're in Italy. If Rome represent's “the old” Italy, then Milan is“the new” one. It's by far the most modern of Italian cities & maybe that's why Milan isn't the kind of city you visit by just dashing around from street to street scanning for the must-see sights. Being August, the official “vacanza”-month, some of the shops were closed for summer holiday, as well as the streets were half empty; the city seemed soulless. On the other hand, the normally polluted & bustling city full of in-a-hurry locals showed a new, more peaceful facet. On top of that, it's lazy Monday morning for Milanese: half of the shops open their doors only in the afternoon. So this is what I did with 7 hours in Milan.
Great musician, prefer the street though
Woke up well-rested half eight, packed up & left the backpack at the hostel to have some mobility. Commuting in Milan takes a while. The hostel was up in the northwest side of the city, so walked 10 min to the nearest metro station, yellow-line terminus Maciachini (there are three metro lines covering the center: red, green & yellow) & headed to Milan's most famous photograph-spot, the gothic Duomo cathedral in Piazza dello Duomo. Other than the metro ticket of one €, didn't waste money on transports: Milanese buses with their open middle & back doors are a vagabundo's dream. Back to the Duomo. The eternity-project of Milan was ongoing for half a century (started 1386), before it got complete. Mediterranean work ethics..in its white marble with hundreds of relics & thousands of statues it really stands off the average rugged building-site. It's worthwhile going all the way inside; you just need to make your way through the pigeon hordes stirring confusion on the Piazza.
The finance market of the Catholic church
Italian policemen..always evoke safety amongst us
After the Duomo went just next by to check out one of the fanciest & oldest shopping malls, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.
The mother of all shopping malls, 19th century Galleria Vittorio Emanuele with all its upscale fashion boutiques worthy of the place. Mosaic-floored & glass-roofed the one-of-the-oldest-malls-in-the-world is the salad bowl of history, architecture & consumerism. There's...
...the glamorous Prada...
...the pirate-fav Louis Vuitton
...& the fast food emperor McDonalds. Which one doesn't fit? The most high-end Donalds (& high rent I suppose) ever. Just shop your ass out in Prada & then go for a cheeseburger next door. Classy..
Started wandering around the half empty city center. Made my way south down Via Torino, a street packed with youth fashion like Franklin & Marshall, Levi's & Nike SB. Also has the biggest culture-vulture FNAC store in town, offering a vast selection in electronic gear, music & books. Took a wrong turn left & was almost ambushed by a legion of Chinese knee-high tourists. Watch out, they're everywhere. In the hot Monday morning, I made my way through the dirty streets, elegant cafeterias & ample piazzas garnished with water-fountains & half-naked statues.
Classic Italian transport: the Vespa
With this they transport the bananas
Walked all the way to Piazza Castello, just next to Castello Sforzesco, one of the grandest sights Milan has to offer. Once home to the noble Sforza-Visconti ruling families, the Sforzesco Castle nowadays houses incredibly 12 mini-museums from paintings to furniture. Walk through the 200m long castle, & you'll find yourself in the biggest green zone of Milan, quiet Parco Sempione. Kids playing football, old-fart couples sitting on benches on the shadow's of thick pine trees; there was even a Korean wedding going on. Walked through a mini Arc de Triomphe, Arco della Pace, while exting the park from the north side. Turned my heading towards east, to the tourist-free, trendy Brera district. Brera is the exception in Milan; the neighborhood was made for a wandering, curious individual. The Brera district is just up north the Duomo area, packing all the tourists in there. So in Brera you can stroll around peacefully just admiring architecturally speaking some of the most worthy buildings in Milan. Most of the residential buildings have their ground floors occupied by boutiques & restaurants. For a while it feels you've entered a whole new city. An Italian city. And as cherry on the cake, the district is home to arguably Milan's best art museum, Pinacoteca Brera. I was supposed to find a some English book for the ride home, so next I headed to the highly recommended Feltrinelli International just in the middle of Brera & Duomo, Piazza Cavour 1. A great bulk of the books are in English, varying from classic Penguin-fiction to worldwide travel books. There's also a big selection of international mags & some useful stationary stuff. Bought Malcolm Gladwell's third gem, Outliers, & took off heading south again to the Duomo area.
Culture temple Pinacoteca Brera
Some Napoli fans must have walked by the italo-gay football ad, adding a Napoli touch to the billboard. Lota is Napoli slang, means shit. Poor Marchetti, he has doppio lota all over him. I'm starting to like Naples, we both think likewise of Italian primadonnas
By now it was 1:30pm so all the shops that were open in August, would be open. I basically waited my whole day for this. It would be hypocrite of me to say I've been to Italy, if I didn't stuff some of their world famous gelato in to my tuna-and-peanuts system. So I headed to via Santa Margherita, to Grom. The gelato-joint is famous for making its ice-cream only with quality ingredients, & they god-like follow their concept. Just for you guys to get the picture, the two Italian founders Federico Grom & Guido Martinetti get even their water from a specific point in Lurisia mountain for the sorbets & high-quality whole milk for the creams. Picked up from their own Lura Lura farm without colorings & artificial additives, the fruits are always seasonal; the flavor-menu changes every month. The success story started in Torino 2003, with stores now all over Italy & even in New York. Three balls, three euros. Same price as in all the mediocre gelaterias in Milan, good value. I went for my trademark Pistacchio, this time with fancy Syrian pistachios. To accompany the forthcoming oral orgasm, I went for the Cioccolato Extranoir with Colombian “Teyuna” chocolate and chocolate chips & the Grom traditional Crema come una volta with egg cream prepared “as it was, once upon a time”. Just simply the best I've ever tasted; best in Milan too. I can only think of one big-market name that reaches somewhere near this: Häagen-Dazs. Even that's still quite far from this yummy-yummy ice-cream. The thing that tops these guys over all the other contenders is the quality of ingredients & the rich, smooth texture of the gelato. Loved all three flavors, but I gotta say the extranoir made me jizz. I could still hours later taste it in my mouth, so good. I mean the chocolate, not the jizz. You can't miss the place, it's always crowded all the way to the street. My only reason to visit Milan again.
Easy access -> tram stop just in front
Beautiful
Time to hit the hostel, just through the supermarket for some, uh, you know the usual..hit some high fives with the lively receptionist & headed to Centrale for the bus. These airport connections part every 20 min, costing 7,5€ a person. It's a 45min trip to Malpensa Terminal 2, which is completely hallowed for Easy Jet flights. I arrived at the terminal & instantly saw this big slogan of Easy Jet's: “If you're late, we wont wait” Nice fellows. Checked in (backpack cost me 10€ extra, 20 if I hadn't booked it along with the flight). So that was one day in Milan, the last point in our eastern pilgrimage.
No reserved seats, so the boarding resembles a department store discount-day: total chaos for the window seats
The Italian Alps, a good ender
One month, 11 countries, 3000 kilometers. Several trains, loads of buses, some taxis & a boat or two. Great people, good times. Rantarosvo thanks its readers & shuts up, at least for a while. Keep travelling, & contrary to the Pet Shop's: GO EAST. So it goes.
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