Six Days of Alpine Magic via the Bernina Express

Our journey from Zurich to Milan via the Bernina Express was one of the most memorable I’ve ever taken. The idea came from my lovely friend Trish who originally conceived it as an extreme day trip. Her itinerary was meant to last twenty-four hours, but when she realised she couldn't possibly pass through Lake Como without lingering awhile, it became three days and two nights. As I read about her trip, I thought: this would make a wonderful, slow five-night journey. So I hatched a plan for festive cheer, cheese, and Alpine relaxation in November with my goddaughter Keira.

Our Route

• 1 night in Zurich
• 1 night in Chur
• The Bernina Express (panoramic train journey)!
• 2 nights in Tirano
• Lunch stop in Varenna
• 1 night in Milan

Zurich

We arrived on a Thursday afternoon in late November, which is the perfect week to arrive as it marked the opening of Zurich's many Christmas markets. After a cosy afternoon of pastries and hot chocolate at Bäckerei Hug on Stauffacher, we returned to our hotel to warm up before heading out into Zurich's festive streets.

Top tip for Zurich: if you have enough time, definitely book ahead for the Lindt Home of Chocolate which is as heavenly as it sounds.

Visit Zurich’s Sechseläutenplatz Christmas Market

Our first stop was the Christmas market at Sechseläutenplatz, where we enjoyed the atmosphere while sipping hot apple cider with rum.

Eat Out at Zurich’s Raclette Factory in Rindermarkt

Dinner was booked at the Raclette Factory in Rindermarkt. I opted for raclette with blue cheese and white wine, served over potatoes. It was delicious, though far simpler than the raclette I'd previously enjoyed with German friends.

Stay at a Women’s Only Hotel in Zurich

We stayed at the Josephine's Guesthouse, a women's only guesthouse with a wonderful community feel. We had a very spacious twin room with en-suite bathroom.

Chur

After breakfast on the Friday morning, we took a long walk before catching the train to Chur from Zurich Hbf. The journey was lovely as we travelled out of the city and past snowy scenery. The first thing we noticed in Chur was how very, very cold it was.

Top tip for Chur: there is free transport around Chur for all hotel guests in the city. Ask your hotel to register you for the Chur Guest Card ahead of your stay and all local trains and buses will be free.

Have a Drink at Hemingway Bar in Chur Old Town

After checking in, we made our way to the old town for dinner. It was -18°C outside, and we were horrified to be turned away for arriving twenty minutes early, even though Restaurant Franziskaner was half empty. We enjoyed a drink in the lovely, warm, welcoming Hemingway bar next door before returning to the restaurant.

Eat Cheese Fondue at Restaurant Franziskaner

I had a delicious Fondue de la Gruyère with Gruyère cheese and Yvorne white wine, served with bread and potatoes, while Keira opted for a giant pork schnitzel.

Stay at Ibis Chur

I honestly can’t recommend the staff at this hotel highly enough. They allowed us to check-in early, arranged for our free travel around the city, leant us Swiss plugs to charge our devices and assured us we’d get breakfast before daybreak the next morning. Most importantly, they gave us all the details we needed to catch the bus to Chur main station the following morning. It’s a short 8 minute ride that is practically door to door.

Take the Bernina Express to Tirano Italy

Of course, there was one reason we'd come this way at all: the Bernina Express panoramic train.

Tirano

Tirano is a small Lombard town ringed by snow-capped mountains. After checking in to our hotel and freshening up, we headed out for lunch.

Sample Lombard Cuisine at Merizzi

The food at Merizzi is exquisite and the restaurant is located on the main road just outside the train station. I enjoyed Paccheri with pumpkin and ragu, a local, seasonal delight.

Relax with a Spa Afternoon in Tirano Old Town

After lunch, we wandered into the old town for a spa afternoon at the Hotel Centrale complete with massages, sauna, steam room and sensory showers. This was such a welcome relief after a couple of days travelling and exploring and we slept so well that night!

Walk, Read & Relax in Tirano

Many travellers continue straight on to Milan after arriving on the Bernina Express. Keira and I decided to do the opposite and spend an extra day doing very little at all. We spent the day reading in our apartment, popping downstairs to the Caffe Dell Angolo every now and again for pastries and their delicious cioccolata calda (hot chocolate made from melted dark chocolate). We went for a long walk and enjoyed a meal of local breads, cheese and meats in our hotel that evening.

Stay at Bernina Express Eco Rooms & Breakfast

Somehow, because we are the luckiest girls alive, we booked a twin room in Tirano but were upgraded to a two room apartment, complete with sitting room and full kitchen. For the third time on our trip, we received superb service, were allowed to check-in early and had an excellent breakfast on both mornings.

Varenna

The time had sadly come to leave Tirano and head to Milan. After loving Bellagio and Villa Melzi on my last visit, I wanted Keira to have a Lake Como lunch treat in Varenna.

Enjoy Lunch With Views of Lake Como

On a very rainy Monday in November, we struggled to find open restaurants. Fortunately, we discovered Nilus Bar, where we were seated beneath a patio heater and treated to spectacular views over Lake Como and the mountains beyond. I had enjoyed my Paccheri with pumpkin and ragu so much that I ordered a very similar dish again, this time with a creamy pumpkin sauce.

Milan

By evening, the mountains had given way to city streets as we continued by rail to Milan for the final night of our adventure.

Sip Cocktails at Penelope a Casa

After checking in and freshening up, we headed out to Penelope A Casa near Porto Romana for the most expensive cocktails I’ve ever purchased - €25 each! It was worth it for the ambiance and service.

Explore Milan

On the final morning of our trip, we spent some time exploring Milan, including visits to Santa Maria delle Grazie and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. I wrote about our Milan adventures back in 2013, and I’m pleased to report that the city is just as beautiful as I remember.

One piece of advice I can’t stress enough: book ahead if you want to see The Last Supper. I neglected to do so this time, and despite travelling in the off-season in November, we were unable to get tickets!

Milan highlights:

• Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II – Instagram friendly and free
• Sforza Castle – boasting a stranger-than-fiction history
• Museo D'arte Antica – featuring an unfinished Michaelangelo sculpture
• The Dominican Church of  Santa Maria delle Grazie – featuring Leonardo’s Last Supper
• The Duomo Di Milano – beautiful inside and out

Stay at JR Hotels Bocconi Milan

It’s safe to say we were weary when we arrived in Milan but the Bocconi Milan was perfect. It boasted the most comfortable bed of our stay, with a reasonably-sized room and en-suite bathroom, all for an excellent price. It is located near Porto Romana.

I hope you’ve enjoyed what was such a lovely five night trip from Switzerland to Italy on the Bernina Express. With Christmas markets, Alpine railways, snowy mountain towns, Lake Como, and more cheese than any reasonable person could consume, it remains one of my favourite trips to date.

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The Grandeur of the Duomo di Milano

I'll never forget the moment I first saw the Milan Cathedral in Milan’s Piazza del Duomo. We emerged from the darkness of the Metro on a particularly hot and humid summer afternoon and suddenly we all spotted the Duomo at the same time. I could tell that because all four of us took a sharp intake of breath and went silent. It certainly is an impressive sight.

On the day that we came back to visit, we made sure that we were at the Duomo bright and early in the morning because we had heard that the queues could get pretty long. We were dismayed when we arrived because the queues were indeed quite lengthy but we were amazed at how quickly the queue went and how efficient the organisation was.

Entrance to the Duomo is free but they do ask for a €2.00 donation if you’re going to take photos inside. We figured that I was going to take a lot of photos inside so I paid €5 just in case!

The Milan Duomo is as impressive inside as it is outside. Entrance to the nave is restricted to worshippers and there was a service in session when we arrived. You can see the somewhat smoky effects in the photo above and below from the incense. It was really beautiful and peaceful inside and I stood with my mother-in-law for some time while she watched the service.

We turned into the South Aisle and took a look at the South Transept. What impressed me most about the Duomo was the incredible detail everywhere we looked. I thought that these tiles were quite exquisite.

The Milan Cathedral or Duomo di Milano in Italian is the fifth largest cathedral in the world and it took a whopping six centuries to build! Construction of the Gothic Cathedral began in 1386 and was only completed as recently as 1965. It kind of puts the construction of the Sagrada Família into perspective; although not yet completed, construction on the Sagrada Família only began in 1882.

This is La cappella di san Giovanni il Buono or the Alter of St John the Good in English. The inscription on the pediment reads “Ego Sum Pastor Bonus” which translates as “I am the good shepherd”. These were my favourite two photos from inside the Duomo.

Just left of the alter stands the famous sculpture of San Bartolomeo Flayed which was completed by Marco d'Agrate in 1562. If you’re squeamish, it might be a good idea to page down at this point and not read the next sentence…

… ready? The sculpture depicts the saint’s flayed skin thrown over his shoulders like a stole. It is pretty grim but what is notable about the sculpture is the incredible level of detail. Click on the photo above to see the blood vessels, tendons and ligaments; it really is quite impressive.

One of the stranger things you will see at the Duomo is the mummified corpses of important Catholic saints. I think this is a bit bizarre to say the least, even though I know that Catholics are not alone in this particular practice. Then again, I won’t even walk over graves in a graveyard so I guess I just like the dead to remain undisturbed and restful.

This is Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster who died in 1954 and was beatified in 1996. If you click on the photo above, you can see his gnarled and mummified hands.

On that note, we decided it was high time for a breath of fresh air! This final photo shows the detailed carvings in the front doors of the cathedral.

We certainly enjoyed our visit to the Milan Duomo and I would recommend going inside. You can pay extra for guided tours and access to the terraces but we thought that there was more than enough to see without taking those extras.

Duomo di Milano
Piazza del Duomo
Milan
Italy

Opening times: Daily 7.00 – 18.30
Entrance: free plus €2.00 for a photographic pass

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Postcards from the World: My Favourite Travel Photos

Brace yourself! Tonight is a bumper photo post and as always, it comes with a bit of a story. Very often when I go on a trip, I’ll save one of my photos and add it to my photo folder at work. My PC at work is set up to rotate a selection of photos as my screen saver and it is always a matter of some pride when a colleague will say that they love the photos on my screen saver and I can reply that they are all mine. Of course, they always express surprise that I have any creativity whatsoever because accountants aren’t exactly known for being arty!

For the longest time, I’ve wanted to share these photos with you and so it was pretty fortuitous when I received notice of this month’s travel link up: your favourite travel photo(s).

And so here you go… all fifteen photos that are absolutely my favourite travel photos. I’ve left links all over the post if you’d like to visit the original posts on the blog.

Turkey – The Celsus Library at Ephesus

Turkey was the first place I visited when I began this blog in 2008 and this photo was taken of the celsus library at Ephesus.

Italy - Alone in Riomaggiore

I’d wanted to visit Italy since I was 20 and finally got to visit last year – twice! This photo was taken in Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre.

London – Chinese New Year

This was my favourite of the photos I took during this year’s Chinese New Year celebrations in London.

Italy - Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

The ceiling of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. This is where you can visit the Last Supper.

Serbia – The Name of Mary Church, Novi Sad

Given my love of Serbia, it should be no surprise that I would feature a photo from there. This was taken during my most recent visit to Novi Sad.

Italy – Duomo di Milano

The good news is that next week I’m finally taking you inside the Duomo in Milan. It is as opulent inside as it is on the outside. I loved this photo because of the inclusion of both the lion statue and the Duomo.

Bosnia – Jablanica

I’d heard about the beautiful turquoise lakes and rivers in Bosnia but nothing quite prepares you for a sight like this. I’m sure I’ve said this before but I would move to this country in a heartbeat. I think I left my heart somewhere here on the road between Mostar and Sarajevo.

Italy - Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan

People often say that they don’t like Milan but I don’t really understand that. I really enjoyed my time there and spent many long afternoons simply walking around or drinking coffee in sidewalk cafes. This was taken in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which is one of the most beautiful structures I have ever seen.

London – The Eye

I can confirm that you can never take too many photos of the London Eye. It is simply not possible. This photo was part of a post I wrote about London at dusk.

Italy – Gondolas in Venice

Somehow I’ve always liked this photo of the gondolas in Venice. I like the composition and the contrast of the blue material in the gondolas against the blue sky. I still have so much to tell you about Italy!

France – The Abbey of Mont St Michel

Taken during our most recent visit to Mont St Michel in France. I just loved the detail here of the old Gothic abbey and the blue sky.

Bosnia – Stari Most, Mostar

The most beautiful bridge in the world. This photo was taken from Koski Mehmet Pasha Mosque where they promise you the best views of the bridge in all of Mostar. The view from our hotel Villa Anri was pretty special too.

Italy - Museo D'arte Antica, Milan

I love this photo because it was hard to decide which was more impressive in the Museo D'arte Antica in Milan – the exhibits or the frescoes.

London – St Paul’s Cathedral

I love this photo simply because it was taken on the first day of spring this year. London is beautiful when the sun shines!

Bosnia – Stari Most at Dusk

And finally, my favourite photo of all time. I took this on my first night in Bosnia on the eve of my 40th birthday. There was nowhere else on earth I wanted to be more than there in Mostar. I’ve printed two enlargements of this photo – one is hanging in our bedroom and the other is in my brother’s lounge.

Do you have a favourite travel photo? Feel welcome to link to it in the comments below!

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The Dominican Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

When my friend Sarah suggested that I book ahead for the Last Supper tour, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I duly went ahead and booked tickets for my mother-in-law Robyn and I. I’m really glad I did because I loved learning all about the Sforza Castle and seeing works by Michelangelo and Leonardo in the Museo D'Arte Antica. The highlight of our tour was seeing Michelangelo’s Last Supper but before we did, we explored the beautiful Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie where the painting is housed.

I have a fascination with churches and it is an interest that I have held for about 20 years, ever since a friend of my mother’s showed me the photos he took of churches around South Africa. In the years since I have been travelling, I have realised that my interest extends beyond churches to mosques and synagogues too. I consider myself to be quite secular but something about these majestic establishments instils a sense of wonder in me.

And sometimes, a church especially takes my breath away.

From the moment I spotted the Santa Maria delle Grazie, it was as if the tour guide and everything else dissolved around me. I immediately fell in love with the geometric lines of the dome, the circles and rectangles and the simple yet elegant design.

Despite my newfound admiration, I was still unprepared for the beauty of the church’s interior.

It was Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan who ordered that a Dominican convent and church be built in Milan in the 15th century. It was built on the site of a small chapel and similarly dedicated to St Mary of the Graces (Santa Maria delle Grazie). The convent was completed in Francesco’s lifetime but it was his son Ludovico who ordered that the cloister and apse be completed when he came to power in 1494. Ludovico deemed the church to be the Sforza family burial place and his wife Beatrice was buried there in 1497.

The walls of the church are adorned with frescoes by Gaudenzio Ferrari and Bernado Zenale and there is intricate paintwork throughout the church.

It is difficult to comprehended as you stand in this magnificent place and contemplate its beauty, but the Santa Maria delle Grazie was heavily bombed by British and American forces in 1943. The bombs hit mainly between the refectory and the church thus destroying the northern wall of the church and much of the refectory. The Last Supper adorns the northern wall of the refectory and was saved by heavy sand-bagging of the area.

For many years before rebuilding and restoration, the historic painting was protected only by tarpaulin and a scaffolding built specifically to protect the wall.

This is why the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was so important, to protect against indiscriminate destruction of cultural property during wartime.

We did get the chance to see the Last Supper during our stay. Visits are firmly limited to windows of 15 minutes and photography is strictly forbidden in the refectory. I can tell you that it is absolutely worth seeing this painting in person. The perception of depth and perspective is quite marvellous, such that you feel as if Christ and his disciples are there on a raised podium above you and you can see beyond to the hills behind them. I’m not really sure if 15 minutes was sufficient. It was all rather dignified (except for the people caught sneaking photographs) and I didn’t feel that we were herded in like cattle but I think I would have preferred a quieter, lengthier moment of contemplation.

Tours and tour providers change from time to time. The exact tour we took - which included Sforza Castle, Museo D'Arte Antica, and both the Santa Maria delle Grazie and the Last Supper - is no longer running. It is vital that you book ahead for the Last Supper or, as I discovered on my return visit in November 2025, you won't get in! Search online for "skip the queue Last Supper tours" and consider the tours that include Sforza Castle too.

Have you ever stood in awe in a place? What is the most beautiful place you have seen?

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Five Treasures of the Museo D'arte Antica, Milan

The Museo D'arte Antica or Museum of Ancient Art is significant both for the works it houses and the frescoes painted upon the ceilings and the walls. Located on the ground floor of the Ducal Courtyard in the Castello Sforzesco, we walked through the rooms that were once converted to barracks and dormitories by Napoleonic forces but have since been lovingly and carefully restored. It is here in the museum that we felt most strongly the connection between the Sforza family and the great master Leonardo da Vinci.

These were the five items that most inspired my imagination:

Monumento Sepolcrale di Bernabò Visconti

Room 2. The frescoes in this originate from the Spanish Age and depict vines, flowers and coats of arms. I was most impressed by Bonino da Campione’s marble Sepulchral Monument of Bernabò Visconti.  

Leonardo da Vinci's La Sala Delle Asse

Room 8: La Sala Delle Asse. I know, the photo above doesn't exactly inspire awe but if you're playing along at home, you should open your mouth and say "wow" right now. That is an original Leonardo da Vinci fresco, currently being restored and taken in low light without a flash to preserve the works. The fresco depicts the leafy coverage of a forest and it flows down the walls into tree trunks. There was great excitement just last week when it was discovered that the works extend even further down the walls to what looks like the roots of the trees stuck in rock.

Sala dei Ducali

Room 11: Sala dei Ducali: This room was once a wing of the ducal apartments built for Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Bona of Savoy in 1468. The beautifully decorated ceiling features a Sforza coat of arms and you can just make Galeazzo’s initials above: GZMA.

Madonna del Coazzone

Room 12: Capella Ducale: I must point out at this point that our tour guide was talking about lots of other interesting facts but I was transfixed with Pietro Antonio Solari's statue of the Madonna del Coazzone. This room is the Ducal Chapel which was turned into stables by Napoleonic forces.

Michelangelo's La Pietà Rondanini

Room 15: Sala Degli Scarlioni. I had quite underestimated how it would feel to see an original, albeit unfinished work of Michelangelo’s sculpture. I’d seen photos of Michelangelo’s David and thought I knew it all, even hanging back to let the other people see the Pietà Rondanini first. Naturally I was wrong and there was something startling about this unfinished sculpture. Our guide showed us the features of the previous, larger sculpture which Michelangelo decided to cut away, the face facing towards the left, the arm that remains suspended. In my mind’s eye, I compared the perfection of David and marvelled at the vision this man must have possessed to see this stone before him and create such permanent and enduring beauty. Sometimes it is nice to be wrong.

Our tour of Castello Sforzesco and Museo D'arte Antica was relatively short and the next time I blog about Milan, I will take you to the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan where The Last Supper is located.

Do you like visiting museums and art galleries? Have you ever been truly surprised or inspired in one?

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