Wind, Voyage 2224 ex Venice to Monte Carlo

9 Night Cruise sailing from Venice to Monte Carlo aboard Silver Wind.

Silver Wind, launched in 1995, was the second ship introduced by Silversea. Much like its sister ship, Silver Cloud, the Wind is a shining example of intimate Italian cruising. Fewer guests, combined with more space and Silversea's signature six-star personalised service make for the ultimate sailing experience. This elite vessel is as a grand hotel, as gracious as a long-time friends' home. Each all ocean-view suite provides a sumptuous retreat. Each public space is intimate yet inviting. It's a warm feeling of home uponthe seas of the earth.

Aboard Silver Wind you will find a most accommodating place to view our world. Whether it's delicious onboard diversions, world-class cuisine, memorable dining venues or staying connected from anywhere, Silversea's impeccable standards apply to every detail of your voyage.Venice
It's called La Serenissima, "the most serene," a reference to the majesty, wisdom, and monstrous power of this city that was for centuries the unrivaled mistress of trade between Europe and the Orient and the bulwark of Christendom against the tides of Ottoman expansion. Built entirely on water by men who defied the sea, Venice is unlike any other town. No matter how many times you've seen it in movies or on television, the real thing is more dreamlike than you could ever imagine. Its landmarks, the Basilica di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale, are exotic mixes of Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance styles. Shimmering sunlight and silvery mist soften every perspective here, and you understand how the city became renowned in the Renaissance for its artists' rendering of color. It's full of secrets, inexpressibly romantic, and at times given over entirely to pleasure.

Dubrovnik
Commanding a splendid coastal location, Dubrovnik is one of the world's most beautiful fortified cities. Its massive stone ramparts and splendid fortress towers curve around a tiny harbor, enclosing graduated ridges of sun-bleached orange-tiled roofs, copper domes, and elegant bell towers. In the 7th century AD, residents of the Roman city Epidaurum (now Cavtat) fled the Avars and Slavs of the north and founded a new settlement on a small rocky island, which they named Laus, and later Ragusa. On the mainland hillside opposite the island, the Slav settlement called Dubrovnik grew up. In the 12th century, the narrow channel separating the two settlements was filled in, and Ragusa and Dubrovnik became one. The city was surrounded by defensive walls during the 13th century, and these were reinforced with towers and bastions during the late 15th century. The city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. During the war for independence, it came under heavy siege, though thanks to careful restoration work, few traces of damage remain. Today Dubrovnik is once again a fashionable, high-class destination.

Taormina
Sicily has beckoned seafaring wanderers since the trials of Odysseus were first sung in Homer's Odyssey. Strategically poised between Europe and Africa, this mystical volcanic land has been a melting pot of every great civilization on the Mediterranean: Greek and Roman; then Arab and Norman; and finally French, Spanish, and Italian. Today Sicily fuses the remains of sackings past: graceful Byzantine mosaics rubbing elbows with Greek temples, Roman amphitheaters, Romanesque cathedrals, and baroque flights of fancy. Messina's ancient history lists a series of disasters, but the city nevertheless managed to develop a fine university and a thriving cultural environment. On December 28, 1908, Messina changed from a flourishing metropolis of 120,000 to a heap of rubble, shaken to pieces by an earthquake that turned into a tidal wave and left 80,000 dead and the city almost completely leveled. For this reason there are few historical treasures but the town makes a good jumping off point for explorations of other treasures.

Monte Carlo
In 1297, the Grimaldi family seized this fortified town and, except for a short break under Napoléon, they have ruled here ever since. The Principality of Monaco covers 473 acres; it would fit comfortably inside New York's Central Park. The Grimaldis made money from gambling and attracted a well-heeled, monied crowd, and the whole world watched as Hollywood movie star Grace Kelly wed Prince Rainier, ruler of Monaco, to put this place on the map. It's the very favorable tax system, not the gambling, that makes Monaco one of the most sought-after addresses in the world, and the principality bristles with gleaming high-rise apartment complexes owned by tax-exiles. But at the town's great 1864 landmark Hôtel de Paris—still a veritable crossroads of the buffed and befurred Euro-gentry—at the Opéra, or in the ballrooms of the Casino, you'll still be able to conjure up Monaco's belle epoque.

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