Milano & Lago di Como

After a short turnaround to Medina last week, I had a few days off and decided to escape the heat of Dubai. I couldn’t decide where to go and so after I got back from my flight I checked the loads of lots of places and finally decided on Milan. I booked my ticket and a hotel and packed my bags, and a few hours later I was at the airport ready to go!

Once I arrived I walked into the city centre, which luckily wasn’t far from my hotel.

And stumbled upon this….The Duomo! Just near the cathedral is the beautiful Galleria. It’s so light and airy, and also full of lots of very expensive shops!Seeing as I was in Italy after all, I decided to treat myself to an ice cream! The crew from the flight over had invited me to come to dinner with them, so once they arrived we all had some delicious pizza.

And as they hadn’t seen it yet, we headed back to the Duomo for another look! We then walked up to the castle, and had a few drinks sitting outside while the sun set.

All of us managed to get absolutely eaten alive by mosquitos, I think I counted at least 10 bites on one leg alone!The next morning I got up early to get the train to Varenna.

I wanted to see Lake Como and after having a quick look online I’d decided to go to Varenna, Bellagio and Como.I walked up the pretty streets of the little town of Varenna.At the top of the hill there is a monastery with some beautiful looking gardens but I didn’t go in as I wanted to catch the next boat to Bellagio.However you could still see the stunning views of Lake Como! After a quick ferry across the water I arrived in the even prettier town of Bellagio. The town is full of gorgeous winding streets and quaint houses. After a spot of lunch in the sun (pasta, of course!) I got the fast ferry (1 hour instead of 2 on the slow ferry) to Como.

It stops off at quite a few little towns on the way, all very pretty. Once I arrived I had a nice walk around the town (which is quite a bit bigger than Bellagio) and another ice cream; it would be a crime not to! I’d read about a funicular that takes you up to the top of the hill above the town, so I found the entrance to that and got on.The views really were beautiful and it was definitely worth doing, as I didn’t find the town itself quite as pretty as Varenna or Bellagio. After a walk around the top finding all of the best spots for photos, I came back down. The next train for Milan wasn’t leaving for an hour, so I spent my time wisely…trying a new ice cream flavour of course!

By the time I got back to Milan in the evening it was pretty late, so I didn’t really fancy doing much. I booked my tickets back and packed my bags, and early the next morning I was off.

I’m so glad I decided to escape Dubai and Ramadan for a couple of days, it was so worth it!

P.s. For more regular day-to-day updates of my life, follow me on Instagram and Twitter @rachelwwilson!