Cocktail, Beer & Wine’

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It was then time to move on so we went for a wander and decided to look for Castello Sforzesco which we finally managed to find… turns out when we were at the Dumo we were within a few minutes walk but because we wandered the other way we ended up having to trekked half way across Milan to find it!! I like to call it the scenic route!!

Ok, so the castle, have to say Nat and I were too busy talking to do the full tour of the castle (but hey that’s why we were in Milan, to catch up right?!?!) The castle is huge, and was the old duke of Milan’s headquarters. Many artists took part in its construction: Brunelleschi, Bramante, Gadio da Cremona and Leonardo da Vinci. Napoleon ordered its destruction, but only the inner courtyard was demolished.

There are plenty of museums located in the castle: the "Musei dei Castello Sforzesco". In the archeological museum you’ll find Egyptian and Roman works (and some Renaissance too, like Michelangelo’s "Pietà Rondanini"). In the Art Gallery there are some 15th century frescoes. There are also armors, musical instruments and carpets sections.

Behind the Castle there’s a nice park. It’s huge and full of people walking their dogs and just generally lazing about.

Apparently there are three areas particularly significant for night life: 'Porta Garibaldi', 'i Navigli' and Brera. Every night and especially during the weekend people struggle to park and be there, couldn’t believe the road was sooo busy?!

We decided to catch the Metro to Porta Garibaldi. There was a trash and treasure market right outside the station and I have to say the Port was a bit grubby and nothing to right home about… We then wandered down Niviglio Grande.

The “Navigli” are the ancient artificial canals dating back to the early Middle Ages (excavations for them commenced in 1177). Many of these canals were designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself. They linked Milan with Lake Maggiore and Switzerland to the north, the Po River to the South. The canals were important for commerce, irrigation, powering mills, and for producing hydro-electric energy. Not to mention the barges that floated in, carrying coal and salt (not to mention marble from Candoglia on Lake Maggiore used in the construction of the Dumo); they left laden with iron, grains, fabrics and other goods manufactured in the city.

This area is supposed to be full of bars/restaurants but most were closed… we kept looking at shops and generally just took in the sights. I have to say that the canals were a bit dodgy and they looked dirty and green - it’s hard to imagine this is a main area in affluent Milan… but maybe it looks different at night with everything opened and alive…

After World War II, materials for reconstructing the badly bombed city were transported by water. Then work began to fill in the historic canals. By 1979 not a single working boat broke the surface of what remained of the waters.

We went past Vicolo Lavandai which is described as ‘beautiful and picturesque corner of Milan along the “Naviglio Grande”, where the women used to do the washing in the past’. Nat and I saw it, but not sure we rated it much… to be honest, wasn’t sure what it was for when I was looking at it…

Eventually we came back towards our hotel and went for lunch. We’ve seen most of the things we came to see now with only Lake Como to go!!!

We went to ‘Cocktail, Beer & Wine’ Restaurant for dinner. The waiter spoke perfect English which made everything seem better!! The cocktail list was huge so it would have been rude not to sample some of them!!!

We walked back to the hotel past the first restaurant we went to where Luigi and Innopolis work, and Innopolis recognised us and ran outside and got us to come in and say ciao to Luigi. They wanted us to stay and drink but it was time for bed!! (must be getting soft in our old age Nat!!)

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Comments

[kim]

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