After years of wanting to do, a €13 flight to Milan caught my eye and helped me finalize my first ever trip outside of Spain in Europe--and this time, to Italy. Because it was so spur of the moment, I didn't quite have time to find a companion, so I embarked on this trip solo (embarked is so dramatic, it wasn't like Mt. Everest, but still!).
I first arrived into Milan, probably my favorite "city" city of the ones I visited. The first I saw was the Piazza al Duomo, where the highest cathedral in Italy, The Duomo of Milan, is situated. Not only were there birds literally everywhere, but also lots of mask enforcing (we love to see it). The cathedral itself is so beautiful it took a while for it to hit me that I had tickets to walk on the roof later that day.
So, after window shopping way beyond my price range and purchasing my signature macarons, I went into the Cathedral and was stunned at the beauty and huge echos from the towering organ pipes. Then I realized I would be climbing the staircase up to that height, and my lungs started heaving in horror... but it was so worth it.
There was a side roof to walk along with some nice architecture, but the roof itself, though slanted, was the most beautiful. I made sure to try to remember that I could see as far as snowtop mountains in the distance, which made for a pretty stellar view of the city too.
That night, I walked around the Navigli neighborhood, anchored by a large river that passes through it and makes for the besssssst sunset pics thankfully taken by strangers. It was like an Amsterdam in the middle of Italy, with more aperol!
I grabbed a walking sandwich-calzone thing and perused until my reservation for dinner, which was traditional spaghetti and a glass of wine--feeling verrrrrry Italian at this point, y'all.
The next day I headed to the train station for my first of five train rides to get to Cinque Terre and Florence. The Italian women I met on the train were so sweet and even yelled at people without masks which was hilarious. When I arrived to Manarola, the town of CT I was visiting, a downpour started, which dampened things, but the pic below was so worth it--I hope you'll agree.
After floating from coffee shop to cafe to avoid the rain, I finally left and headed to Firenze or Florence (Y'all). I got an incredible mascarpone ham pizza and rested up for my last day! Every hostel I stayed in was amazing, and the people I met were so kind and from all over. One man, from Egypt, spoke in Arabic with me and it became a really surreal moment for me--all that language learning was so worth it!
My last day I met up with an old friend, Chloe, and we toured the Ufizzi art museum and the Pitti Palace, where the richest family in Italy once resided.
The sights, especially from the lookout, were simply stunning and it capped off a really beautiful, albeit lonely at times weekend. Though I am not art fan, I loved getting to see how ornately they painted, even the CEILINGS. We saw a lot of art and half of it wasn't even on a canvas.
There was also more insane food, namely a pasta dish out of a cheese wheel which I insisted on, and the presentation was enough for my Midwestern dramatics--it was amazing.
But with traveling, being alone leaves a lot of room for seeing new things, stumbling upon some great pizza and feeling the sheer surrealism of being in a new place with people you may never see again--it was thrilling and I can't wait to go back (in like 2 weeks, seriously...).
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