Amsterdam to Milan starting May 1, 2024
We will be going on our 4th.Tauck trip but our first ever river. Excited to be going. We had schedule a land tour to Isreal and Jordan next week but quickly canceled that trip after Oct. 7. We have an extra day in Milan at the end of our trip. Any suggestions on what we should see and do that day? Also any one here going on the trip May 1?
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I recommend the Milan Synagogue and the Monumental Cemetery. The Synagogue has beautiful stained glass windows and some of the monuments in the cemetery are works of art.
Enjoy your river cruise. I don't think you will be disappointed.
We took kfnknfzk****'s advice on the cemetery and found it an experience equal to many museums. It is a short taxi ride from your hotel. Also the synagogue is very worthwhile. It would be a good idea to contact the synagogue and arrange for a tour. don't know if there are regularly scheduled tours, but we could not attend the first date they offered us and instead they arranged for a private tour. I think there was a minimal charge for that and it was definitely worth it. Enjoy. We also arranged for a scheduled tour of La Scala which we arranged through the opera house directly. There are also many other tours available through Viatours.
sherry_schare - I'm glad you made it to the cemetery. We found it purely by accident while just exploring on independent travel. There are so many treasures just waiting to be discovered if one is willing to explore instead of rushing to point A to point B without experiencing anything in-between. We all have different traveling styles.
Warm regards.
Here is the brochure description for your free afternoon, all of these things are worthwhile in my opinion, depending on your interests:
__**The afternoon is free. You might want to take in La Scala, one of the most famous opera houses in the world, where Maria Callas sang her heart out… Pinacoteca di Brera, a great art collection including works by Raphael, Bellini, Piero della Francesca, and Caravaggio… the fashion district between pedestrianized Via della Spiga, via Montenapoleone, via Manzoni, and Corso Venezia… or the mildly bohemian Navigli neighborhood of canal-side bars, restaurants, and shops. As you go, be sure to taste the traditional flavors of Milan – sipping a Campari bitter aperitif and sampling dishes like yellow risotto, cassoeula, and ossobuco. **
Definitely check the La Scala schedule for opera, ballet or a concert if you are a fan of the performing arts. Or consider the tour. I am not a fashion maven and feel dressed up if I am wearing anything but yoga pants and a sweatshirt, but the fashion district is amazing. Fashion is a huge industry in Milan and while window shopping you will see styles, fabrics and colors and other wearable art that you will not see elsewhere. The Pinacoteca has some beautiful and well-known art pieces, and the Brera neighborhood is very pleasant for a stroll. Not to be missed, besides the Da Vinci Last Supper, is the tour of the inside of the Duomo along with the rooftop, if you can manage it. Besides the cemetery, the Castello Sforzesco is another popular site. There are all kinds of fascinating stories and legends. Lastly, your hotel is very close to the train station and as mentioned above there are lots of day trips that can be taken from Milan if you prefer to get out and explore. I've heard good things about "Tours by Locals" though I've not yet used it myself, if you prefer private touring.
If you search the discussions you will see more info about Milan.
Have fun!
When traveling, we include visits to cemeteries. Whether it's the Monumental Cemetery in Milan or Pere Lachaise in Paris or small ones in tiny villages, they give you a good insight into the culture and history of the area. In Oberammergau the graves are marked by wooden crosses, which are indicative of the woodcarving in the area. In other areas you may see names like Henri Schwartz representing the territory being passed back and forth between Germany and France. If it's a large family grave, you will see members who died during the various wars. Many of these graves contain photos of the person(s) buried in the grave.
In most instances you do not need a large amount of time. In smaller towns a short visit before dinner is a nice way to end a day of touring.
Yikes!
I agree with you, Kathy M. Although I do not find solace in visiting graves of family members, at least not those whom I have known, I will enter a cemetery if I stumble upon one in my travels. I do not find it macabre at all. From a historical perspective, it is like walking back through time and, as sherry_schare mentioned, some are like museums with magnificent works of art.
I have visited a number of cemeteries internationally (Prague, Mumbai, Dublin, Lithuania, Hong Kong etc) as part of the TAUCK tour or private heritage tours. As Kathy wrote, the cemeteries can be quite interesting and wonderful stories.
I loved Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin...full of graves of people important to Irish history, and ordinary people still being buried today.
The cemetery where ‘Evita’ is buried in Buenos Aires is pretty impressive. It is on the Tauck tour, but I discovered it quite by accident many years ago when I was flying to Argentina. I was just out for a walk. Boston has some pretty impressive cemeteries.
@CTPage Hi! We will be on your trip! We are traveling with 3 couples we met on our Classic Italy Small Groups trip 2016. Looking forward to meeting you in 2 weeks. We’ll be in Amsterdam a day early and going to the Anne Frank house later that afternoon. My name is Marilyn and my husband is Gary. This is our 2nd Riverboat cruise and 5th Tauck trip.
Enjoyed the cruise and finally meeting you & Gary the last day of the trip.