Milan – day 4, the last day! | alison richards | graphic designer and artworker

My flight home from Milan was around 8pm, which meant that I had the entire day and then some to finish exploring the city.

My first port of call for the day, though, was the Duomo. I had bought tickets online because they sell out, and had got some for first thing in the morning. So I was at the Duomo at 8:30am, ready to have a look around.

The security procedures for getting inside the church were the strictest I have had to go through (to get inside a church that is). It was like airport security - they checked all through my backpack, even looking in pockets I didn't know it had, then patted me down. I don't know what they were trying to find! But hey, safety first, or something.

I finally got inside the church. It's actually more impressive on the outside, I think, but the one thing that impressed me with this church was the floor! Sadly, though, I couldn't get a good shot of it - it was really dark inside much of the church and hard to take photos. But you can see more here, as the church has some pretty good 360° photos on its website.

My tickets for the Duomo also gave me access to the roof, so I left the church to go up there, I wanted to try to beat the other tourists. I will also mention that they were doing a LOT of restoration on the roof (so much so that I think they should have reduced the price of the ticket), which I tried to cut out of my photos. But regardless, of the construction work, it was nice to see the detail of the carved stone. Also, it was really weird walking on the roof of a church, as it is actually sloped like a roof and you have to pay attention to your feet as there are hazards everywhere! But here are the photos of it... it was pretty!

At the door as I waited for the lift to the top

Looking back along the corridor from the lift

That statue has a pretty good view, looking over Milan

One last photo of the beautiful Duomo from down below

I left the roof as more people started coming up, and went on another big walk of Milan, starting at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II again and then getting basically lost again. It was a nice place to get lost in, albeit a little chilly!

A little church I found, and was the only one visiting

Whoever does this street art calligraphy – it’s SO COOL!

The Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio. Originally started in 400BC, the current form is from the 12th century, when it underwent a renovation.

I went back to the piazza in front of the Duomo and then onwards to my hotel to pick up my bag. It was about 4pm but my legs were sore from walking around all day so I decided to go to the airport early, have dinner there, a glass of wine and just chill out and wait for my flight. It had been a lovely long weekend in Milan!