Milan

Milan was a wonderful surprise to us as previously we had only been to the railway station. We know that Milan is the fashion capital of the world (shared with Paris) but  the architecture here is also stunning. Yesterday we talked about 10 kms to see all the places on my list, today we did the on- off bus routes to see what we had missed.

The star attraction is the Duomo, Santa Maria Nascente, a frothy conglomerate of marble with 135 spires and about 3700 statues on the exterior. Started in 1386, it took hundreds of years to be finished. Inside it is very dark and rather drab.

Late in the afternoon we had a booking to see Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' in the refectory at the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. This work dates from 1495 so it is absolutely amazing that it still exists, especially when you see photos of war damage to the building.
It is forbidden to take photos so I am posting this one which I found on the web.

For us the highlight was the Basilica de Sant' Ambrogio - Saint Ambrose. He is the patron saint of Milan and the basilica was built in 379-386AD. Built in the Romanesque style, the frescoes were beautiful, the place looked well cared for and had great feeling ... and very 
few tourists!

Lunch was at the hottest lunch venue in Milan - Luini. The queues stretched way out into the street but efficient staff moved the customers through with speed and a smile. Guess where we ate our panzerotto?