Lugano, Switzerland

If you are in Milan, the best thing you can do is to to travel to city LUGANO, its in north of Italy and less than 100 Km from Milan.

The easiest way is to take a direct train from MILAN CENTRAL STATION (centrale) to Lugoano , which takes nearly hour

Milan railway station (centrale)

Train at Milan

and 10 min and cost 23 Euro one way. The train is fast and run German and Italian company. There are many options of train but better take the train which is going to Zurich and Lugano is a stop in between,

 Lugano Train Station

Lugano train station

View from the train

Its a  small city surrounded by white top mountains and three sides covered with the Lugano lake, the lake is huge enough to give a view of a sea. The nature, cleanliness and street view is just marvelous and can't be expressed in words.

 Street view Lugano

Walking towards the Lake

From the train station, take the exit from the right (the main building) and go down the street till towards the lake, it takes nearly 10 min to reach to the lake by walking. The streets have old style shops and beautifully decorated cafes. There is McDonald just in front of the lake view. 

Restaurant on the streets of Lugano

 Lake 

food street 

Pumpkin sweet selling on the street

Walk as much as you can on the pedestrian walk lanes near the lake and every view is spectacular. Don't forget to walk inside the town center and small streets connecting the center hall, there are multiple street vendors and shops which offers some unique things like food and souvenirs. When you get tired then walk to the shopping mall named MANOR LUGANO, it has 5 floors and sells almost everything from electronics, cosmetics to clothing, There is also a supermarket in the -1 floor and you can find many cheap swiss/Italian chocolates and snacks.

Manor shopping mall

There are many things to see in the city and main attraction can be seen within 4 hours but time spent  sitting next to lake and enjoying the lake view is just uncountable. 

 Foutain next the lake and good wished from me ( have a wonderful travel)

Alexandria

Alexandria was my second destination in Egypt after Cairo, My frined professor bought ticket for me by train and left me at the station,
The railways station of Cairo is a master piece, quiet nicely organised and clean, and few ancient styles monuments are place in the main hall and outside hall you find tracks and platform for the trains,

Many trains go everyday to Alexandria but few are fast and nonstop so be sure before buying. The seats are single seats and placed two on one side and two on the other and middle is walking way. The journey takes nearly 3.5 hours and outside view is just desert with no eye catching view.Inside train you can get tea,coffee and snacks with a small price and I see many people buy coffee and tea, may its cheap or just nothing else to do, The journey is good and fast and engine didn't break on the way, as it was the fear which our Egyptian friend gave us that trains can just stop in nowhere for hours)

MAP
Our stay was for 3 nights and the plan was well defined, see the below map to imagine what we intended to do in Alexandria.

First View:

We jump out at station SIDI GABER as it was near to our hotel, Its a small station and many taxis park outside, First view of Alexandria is great the taxis are more new, more greenery around and people seems more fresh and jolly as compared to Cairo.

HOTEL
Almamura is a small district near the coast line where there are many hotels and specially designed for tourists, the hotels are cheap and most of them have internal pool and attache the private beach. The hotel was very near to the palace Montaza, My advice is always go for 4 or 5 star hotel in Egypt,as lower stars can be poor in hygiene,

ALEXANDRIA CASTLE ( Qaitbay Citadel)
Its an important historic fort from the 15th Century made for the protection from the sea side, The fort is master piece of construction and its light house is also named as the 7th wonder of the ancient world. There is small fee for entrance and student can get discount too. There is a small bazaar next to the castle and you can find many sea stones and jewelry items but relatively expensive as compared to Cairo.

Paid him for a short sea trip in sea near castle, was a badchoice, the boat was very small and he asked for more money in the middle of the sea :)

Library
The library was arguably one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world, The library is built on a very huge scale and the stairs of library  entrance is a get together place of high school and university students. The library is just on the coast line and you can feel fresh sea breeze.

BUS TERMINAL
I took the bus from Alexandria to Cairo airport. The journey took nearly long 6 hours to reach airport and made me really nervous as my flight time was in the evening and never thought the bus would take that long. The roads till Cairo are ok and takes nearly 2 hour to reach the boundaries of Cairo but then the traffic and slow service form the bus company to pick as many customer as they can made it really worst. Anyhow I caught my flight and rate my trip to Alexandria as excellent.

My special thanks to my Friend Karim, for meeting me and taking care of me in Alexandria.