9 Night Cruise sailing from Lisbon to Rome 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 upon the 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.

Highlights of this cruise:

Lisbon
Lisbon bears the mark of an incredible heritage with laid-back pride. Spread over a string of seven hills north of the Rio Tejo (Tagus River) estuary, the city presents an intriguing variety of faces to those who negotiate its switchback streets. In the oldest neighborhoods, stepped alleys are lined with pastel-color houses and crossed by laundry hung out to dry; here and there miradouros (vantage points) afford spectacular river or city views. In the grand 18th-century center, black-and-white mosaic cobblestone sidewalks border wide boulevards. Eletricos (trams) clank through the streets, and blue-and-white azulejos (painted and glazed ceramic tiles) adorn churches, restaurants, and fountains. Some modernization has improved the city. To prepare for its role as host of the World Exposition in 1998, Lisbon spruced up its public buildings, overhauled its metro system, and completed an impressive bridge across the Rio Tejo, but Lisbon's intrinsic, slightly disorganized, one-of-a-kind charm hasn't vanished in the contemporary mix.

Malaga
The city of Malaga and the surrounding region of eastern Andalusia create the kind of contrast that makes travel in Spain so tantalizing. A Moorish legacy is a unifying theme and offers some of its most interesting and visually stunning historical attractions. Since the birth of mass tourism in the 1950s, Europeans have flocked here to the Costa del Sol, a 70-km (43-mi) sprawl of hotels, vacation villas, golf courses, marinas, and nightclubs west of Malaga. Despite the hubbub, you can unwind here. Malaga itself is a vibrant Spanish city, virtually untainted by tourism, and inland are quiet whitewashed villages just waiting to be explored.

Barcelona
Capital of Catalonia, 2,000-year-old Barcelona commanded a vast Mediterranean empire when Madrid was still a dusty Moorish outpost on the Spanish steppe. Relegated to second-city status only in 1561, Barcelona has long rivaled and often surpassed Madrid's supremacy. Catalans jealously guard their language and their culture. Barcelona has long had a frenetically active cultural life. It was the home of architect Antoni Gaudi, and the painters Joan Miro and Salvador Dali. Pablo Picasso also spent his formative years in Barcelona. Native musicians include cellist Pablo (Pau, in Catalan) Casals, opera singers Montserrat Caballe and Jose (Josep) Carreras, and early music master Jordi Savall. One of Europe's most visually stunning cities, Barcelona balances its many elements, from the medieval intimacy of its Gothic Quarter to the grace of the wide boulevards in the Moderniste Eixample. In the 21st century, innovative structures, such as the Ricardo Bofill Vela (sail) hotel, demonstrate Barcelona's insatiable appetite for novelty and progress.

Rome
Rome is a heady blend of artistic and architectural masterpieces, classical ruins, and extravagant baroque churches and piazzas. The city's 2,700-year history is on display wherever you look; the ancient rubs shoulders with the medieval, the modern runs into the Renaissance, and the result is a bustling open-air museum. Julius Caesar and Nero, the Vandals and the Popes, Raphael and Caravaggio, Napoleon and Mussolini are among the countless luminaries who have left a mark on the city. Today Rome's formidable legacy is kept alive by its people, their history knit into the fabric of their everyday lives. Raphaelesque teenage girls zip through traffic on their motorini; priests in flowing robes stride through medieval piazzas talking on cell phones. Modern Rome has one foot in the past, one in the present-a fascinating stance that allows you to tip back an espresso in a square designed by Bernini, then hop on the metro to your next attraction.