Italian Dreams

A whirlwind European trip is as memorable as a month-long stay, Megan Paulse discovered on a flying visit to Italy

A midst enduring a gruelling Cape Town winter, the opportunity arose to head off to Italy and embark on Norwegian Viva's maiden voyage. I'll be honest, though, while a trip to Italy had always been on my bucket list, a cruise hadn't, but thanks to this magnificent ship in the Norwegian Cruise Line's fleet, I've changed my mind.

After 16 hours of travelling from Cape Town to Italy via Istanbul, we landed at Venice Marco Polo Airport and then drove to Trieste town, less than two hours from Venice, 'the floating city'.

TAKING ON TRIESTE

I managed to tear my eyes away from the turquoise waters packed with beachgoers and soaked up the surrounding architecture as we made our way to our hotel, Savoia Excelsior Palace. Directly opposite Riva del Mandracchio, the hotel offers sublime views of the Adriatic Sea and ships docked in the waterfront. Our first glimpse of the Norwegian Viva, our home for the next four days as we made our way to Rome, was breathtaking, its massive size mind-blowing. A 20-passenger deck ship, with 1 586 staterooms for up to 3 099 guests and 1 506 crew members, is a sight to behold.

Taking a nap after our journey would have to wait as this port town, responsible for bringing coffee to Europe, begged to be explored. Freshened up and seriously caffeinated after our first espresso in Italy, we went in search of gelato. It didn't take long to accomplish our mission. My tiramisu flavoured dessert hit the spot and was all the sustenance I needed to explore the city's side streets lined with scooters, the enormous Piazza Unità d'Italia (Unity of Italy Square), the stores that surround it and the first of many churches we would enter while visiting Europe.