Cultures of the Mediterranean Cruise

Day 1 - Rome

Arrive: Tue 29 October 2024 / Depart: Tue 29 October 2024

Your gateway to the Eternal City, Civitavecchia has served as Rome's seaport since the 13th century. The port has a long and venerable history. The emperor Trajan built a pleasure villa near the modern city, while Bernini and Michelangelo designed the harbor fortifications. Yet the Eternal City eternally beckons. The ancient capital of the Western World and the center of Christianity for nearly 2,000 years, Rome provides an inexhaustible feast. Visit the ruins of the Forum, view the splendors of the Sistine Chapel, or climb the Spanish Steps, once the heart of Rome's Bohemian Quarter. Rome has been a magnet luring the world's greatest artists, architects, and philosophers since the days of the Caesars.

Day 2 - Gaeta

Arrive: Wed 30 October 2024 / Depart: Wed 30 October 2024

Gaeta is a coastal city in central Italy, south of Rome. It's home to Monte Orlando Park, a protected area with Roman ruins, Mediterranean vegetation and dive sites. Inside the park, an 11th-century sanctuary sits on Montagna Spaccata, named for a wide split in the rock that plunges into the sea. A staircase leads to the nearby Grotta del Turco marine cave. Northwest is the Villa di Tiberio archaeological site.

Day 3 - Naples, Italy

Arrive: Thu 31 October 2024 / Depart: Thu 31 October 2024

Naples, a city in southern Italy, sits on the Bay of Naples. Nearby is Mount Vesuvius, the still-active volcano that destroyed nearby Roman town Pompeii. Dating to the 2nd millennium B.C., Naples has centuries of important art and architecture. The city's cathedral, the Duomo di San Gennaro, is filled with frescoes. Other major landmarks include the lavish Royal Palace and Castel Nuovo, a 13th-century castle.

Day 4 - Sicily

Arrive: Fri 01 November 2024 / Depart: Fri 01 November 2024

Day 5 - Malta

Arrive: Sat 02 November 2024 / Depart: Sat 02 November 2024

Valletta (or Il-Belt) is the tiny capital of the Mediterranean island nation of Malta. The walled city was established in the 1500s on a peninsula by the Knights of St. John, a Roman Catholic order. It’s known for museums, palaces and grand churches. Baroque landmarks include St. John’s Co-Cathedral, whose opulent interior is home to the Caravaggio masterpiece "The Beheading of Saint John."

Day 6 - Porto Empedocle, Sicily

Arrive: Sun 03 November 2024 / Depart: Sun 03 November 2024

Porto Empedocle is a town and comune in Italy on the coast of the Strait of Sicily, administratively part of the province of Agrigento. It is the namesake of Empedocles, a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of the city of Akragas, in his day a Greek colony in Sicily.

Day 7 - Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia

Day 8 - Cagliari

Arrive: Tue 05 November 2024 / Depart: Tue 05 November 2024

Day 9 - At Sea

Day 10 - Mahon, Spain

Arrive: Thu 07 November 2024 / Depart: Thu 07 November 2024

Day 11 - Majorca

Arrive: Fri 08 November 2024 / Depart: Fri 08 November 2024

Day 12 - Barcelona

Arrive: Sat 09 November 2024 / Depart: Sat 09 November 2024

Barcelona, the cosmopolitan capital of Spain’s Catalonia region, is known for its art and architecture. The fantastical Sagrada Família church and other modernist landmarks designed by Antoni Gaudí dot the city. Museu Picasso and Fundació Joan Miró feature modern art by their namesakes. City history museum MUHBA, includes several Roman archaeological sites.