I am not really a religious person but I love seeing architecture and beautiful buildings.Seeing it for real made me thought how can be a structure like his made by human hands?

As we step on to the Uscita (exit) Duomo from the metro, the off white, bright glistening spires of the cathedral greeted us, of course along with the mass of tourist cowds.It is August afterall, summertime and peak season of tourists in Italy.I exhaled, stand there for a minute to gather my orientation and look around me.This is it, finally, I have seen the famous Duomo di Milano.Aesthetically, this cathedral is impressive, brutally beautiful, massive, almost unimaginable with all of its tall spires,statues and details, proud, grand,modest, mysterious but also very exhausting to look at.

The flock of pigeons are also there, almost inseparable with the Duomo.So many that they have colonized this region and built an entire Pigeon empire.I love birds and everything but honestly, i know the hassles of their acidic feces do to monumental buildings,it´s no joke.It only looks nice, intagram-worthy photo but these birds are lured to scam tourists.Poor birds!

I stayed in Milan for 4 days and everyday I see a different facet of this cathedral. I have never been to Vatican and St. Peter´s in Rome so I´m sure that the beauty of Doumo is only second to them.For me, its already huge, with a capacity of holding almost 400,000 people.Nevertheless, considering it´s rich history , location and architecture, I think this cathedral deserves all the praises.

No debate, this cathedral is a must see if you are in Milan.Coming from a religious catholic country, most catholics flocked to this cathedral like pilgrims! It´s very central and accessible so finding it, is easy.I don´t blame the crowds but the lines are terribly crazy, just seeing how long it is made me cringe so on the first day, we decided to take another date to explore it. Admiring it from outside was not hard though, there´s plenty to see. It has 3,400 statues, 700 marble figures, 150 Gorgoyles and 96 giants!

I would be back to Germany, going on with my usual routine and Autumn is on the corner and I would not be able to find and see all these statues and details! The doors of Doumo itself is a labyrinth, a maze, a mystery! There are thousands of different details, animals, birds, people, stories from the bible, religious things and so on.I told you, this cathedral is exhausting to see.

I decided to brave to take the 256 steps to climb the top of terraces of the Duomo.Said to myself that I deserved to see this view on top.I was thinking of making lots of great photos when im on top, with soft breeze cooling me on a hot 33 degrees summer heat, but of course, i was just daydreaming.It is hot, tingling and exhausting.The crowds are still there, with me, together we brave this pursuit of inasanity to explore this cathedral and of course, obligatory selfies included. I was here, documented and narrated de facto.

As much common nowadays, the terraces or top of the Duomo can be accessed from 9 am so we lined up early.There is a queue for the lift which is by the way so small that can only take i think 4-5 persons that will take you to the first level, about 31m above ground and from there,its all about your shoes and yourself.If you have a baby or toddler with you, you cannot bring the stroller up.

The adventure with the steep steps begun. My daughter starts to whine and got so bored so I am slowly losing my control.But then it is too late to go back, its one way and all we need to go is move forward. Moving forward off we go and I tried to amuse her, I said we took photos of the grand statues and count as many as we can.It was a dare challenge that I know all of us cannot do.Nevertheless, the challenge continues.We let ourselves get lost looking at the vast stone forest against the blue skies of Milan. The spires,flying buttresses, falconature and mind blowing creatures carved in Candoglia mable are all shining grand in their beauty, almost immune to all of the visitor´s murmurs and contemplations.Some tourists are reciting their prayers, rituals and so.

The skyline of Milan looked so modest compared to the massive skyline in Singapore or Seoul.I admire the towering statues who stands in the needle podium like spires, like guardians and soldiers, bravely watching all of the city day and night along with the Madoninna, the golden statue that is the heart and soul of Milan.It´s nice to be here on top seeing the people walking like ants, so little, tiny, fragile and lost in wandering.

I don´t exactly knows what these spires means but i find them pretty. From the gaps I can still see the modern apartment buildings and roof top terraces that offers a great view of the city.The statues looked strange to me,from the distance I can´t see their faces, they are almost unreachable, like dolls but not like scarecrows.Youl´ll need a binoculars to see them all clearly.

Seeing the interior of the Duomo made us gasp. I felt so little, so tiny compared to all its grandeur.The colorful stained glass windows, with all its biblical pictures , the frescoes that almost speaks to you alive, the ceilings and even the stunning mosaic floor.It´s like stepping on a palace, in another dimesional place. I have read that Duomo uses LED lighting system since 2015 so it´s quite impressive and modern compared to the traditional lamps and heavy chandeliers.

Duomo is a special cathedral in many ways. For some its just another church etc., but considering the centuries it took for this grand cathedral to be build is what makes it really special. The architects, sculptures and the one who build this icon knows exactly what they are doing and they have succeeded to built something that surpasses the time.Now I understand why people travel from all parts of the world to see Duomo . Napoleon was in fact crowned as King of Italy in Doumo!

For every beautiful thing, it really takes time.Just like the Duomo that took thousand of workers and nearly 6 centuries to complete,it is just right to pay respect to this place.I could imagine the laborious way of transporting the Candoglian white-pink marble from Lake Maggiore to Milan to adorn this cathedral.They even made a new canal system , which I also happened to visit, the Navigli canals to be used to this.

After all, Milan is not just about shopping, fashion and nightlife.There´s so much interesting history that we´ve learned along our days of wandering in this city.It is really more than meets the eye.I have learned so much personally from this travel and I am grateful to see this cathedral and to be able to write about this in my Blog.

Ciao Milano, until I see you again sometime soon!

Have you seen the Duomo di Milano?

Until then, Tschüß!