Western Mediterranean and Malta with MSC World Asia

Meeting at Istanbul Airport 4 hours before the flight and after our check-in procedures, we take our flight to Milan (MXP) Airport. After landing, we transfer to our hotel in Genoa. Guests who wish may join the Genoa City Tour organized as an extra by the ship. Genoa, the capital of the Liguria Region, undoubtedly deserves much more than its current popularity. The city is the birthplace of pesto sauce and Christopher Columbus, as well as the driving force behind Italian football. Thanks to its very rich art, music, gastronomy, architecture, and historical features, it was the European Capital of Culture in 2004. This historical city, inherited from the Genoese, will surprise you greatly.

After breakfast at our hotel, we transfer to MSC World Asia to complete our check-in procedures. Guests who wish may join the Portofino Tour organized as an extra by the ship. Genoa, the capital of the Liguria Region, undoubtedly deserves much more than its current popularity. The city is the birthplace of pesto sauce and Christopher Columbus, as well as the driving force behind Italian football. Thanks to its very rich art, music, gastronomy, architecture, and historical features, it was the European Capital of Culture in 2004. This historical city, inherited from the Genoese, will surprise you greatly. After walking through magnificent mansions, streets, squares, and historical venues, we depart for Santa Margherita Ligure by bus. From here, we cross to Portofino by boat. We give free time in Portofino. Guests who wish can climb up to the Church of Saint George to watch the magnificent view of Portofino, while those who wish can have a drink or shop in the dazzling natural harbor of Portofino. We will have time for shopping. After our tour, we will head to our ship. Our tour may start in Genoa or Portofino depending on the guide's initiative.

After breakfast on board, guests who wish may join the Rome City Tour organized as an extra by our guide. In this full-day tour, after a 1 hour and 15-minute journey with the bus that will be waiting for us at Civitavecchia Port, we will take a panoramic tour in Rome. Places to see include; Castel Sant'Angelo, Tiber River, Borghese Park, Via Veneto, Piazza del Popolo, Piazza della Repubblica, Via Nazionale, Theatre of Marcellus, Circo Massimo, and the Forum areas. Later, we explore Rome's famous squares on foot. Places to see include; Pantheon Square, Navona Square, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps, where we finish our tour and take a shopping break. At the end of our tour, we return to our ship. Dinner and overnight on board.

After breakfast on board, guests who wish may join the Savoca & Taormina & Messina tour organized as an extra by the ship. During our tour, we will see the places where the world-famous movie The Godfather was filmed. Taormina, one of the most beautiful tourist resorts of Sicily, is another beautiful region we will see during our tour. Then we will set off for Messina, described as the "Gateway to Sicily". Founded in the Ancient Greek period, this beautiful city is considered the spiritual capital of Sicily with its historical past. After a pleasant trip in Messina, one of the most modern and lively cities of the region, we return to our ship. Dinner and overnight on board.

After breakfast on board, guests who wish may join our Mosta & Valletta & Mdina & Marsaxlokk tour organized as an extra by the ship. Our first stop is Mosta. In this tour, we visit the Santa Maria Assunta Basilica, which has the third-largest dome in Europe. The interior paintings of this massive basilica, which has an outer dome diameter of 56.2 meters, were made especially by the painter Giuseppe Cali. We will see the replica of the 200 kg bomb that was dropped by German Nazi planes during World War II in 1942, which pierced the dome and got stuck in the floor of the church without exploding, and we will get information about the interior and exterior architecture of the church. Later, we visit Mdina, the old capital of Malta, which is the natural set where many scenes of the famous series Game of Thrones were filmed. While walking through the narrow streets of this medieval city, known as the silent city, we will see the magnificent Saint Paul's Cathedral, the Falson Mansion built in the 13th century by the Falson family, one of the noble families of Malta, the Carmelite Monastery built in the Baroque style in the 17th century, the Vilhena Palace, and the old houses of Mdina. Afterwards, we will continue our tour by visiting a fishing village called "Marsaxlokk". You should not miss the view offered by the small, cute fishing boats with colors and designs unique to Malta, called Luzzo. At the same time, we will have free time in this cute fishing village, where an open market is also set up, for our guests who wish to have lunch at local restaurants with menus consisting of fresh fish and seafood. After our free time, we will set off for Valletta. We will carry out our Valletta city tour. Valletta was chosen as the 2018 European Capital of Culture by the Council of the European Union. During our tour, we will have the opportunity to see the magnificent walled city of Valletta from the outside. After our bus tour, we will explore the city by walking through the lively streets of the capital Valletta with our guide. Our first stop will be the Barracca Gardens, built on the upper part of the defensive walls surrounding this magnificent city. These gardens, built by the Knights of St. John, also have a magnificent view of the Grand Harbor and the 3 old walled cities. At the end of our tour, we return to our ship. Dinner and overnight on board.

Our whole day will be spent cruising at sea. It is a perfect opportunity to enjoy this magnificent ship. You can have your breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the open buffet restaurant, which contains various foods prepared fresh by special chefs to suit everyone's taste, or at your specially reserved seat in the A La Carte restaurant. During the day, in addition to Yoga and fitness classes, you can benefit from the gym equipped with state-of-the-art Technogym products, which also includes outdoor tennis, volleyball, and basketball or bodybuilding equipment. After dinner, if you wish, you can spend time in the ship's colorful and fun bars and cafes and listen to live music, or you can attend Broadway-style musical theater shows, or try your luck at the casino. Dinner and overnight on board.

After breakfast, guests who wish may join the Barcelona city tour organized as an extra by our guide. Our city tour in Barcelona, one of the most beautiful metropolises of Europe, will start with our private bus waiting for us at the port. La Rambla Street, Christopher Columbus Monument, Maremagnum Artificial Port, Barceloneta Beach, Olympic area and port, Catalunya Square, Paseo de Gracia street where Gaudi turned his houses into a street museum, and his most fundamental work, Sagrada Familia, are among the places we will see. During our tour, we will go up to Montjuic hill and take landscape photos. After free time on La Rambla for shopping, we will return to our ship. Dinner and overnight on board.

After breakfast on board, guests who wish may join our Aix-En-Provence & Marseille Tour organized as an extra by the ship. We start our tour with a 10-minute walk from the Marseille port. After a journey of approximately 40 minutes by our bus, we will go to the AIX-EN-PROVENCE region, one of the most elegant cities in Southern France, which has been a source of inspiration for many writers such as Paul Cezanne and Emile Zola. In the region famous for its lavender fields, we will visit the city, which smells of history everywhere, with beautiful buildings, flowery balconies, and fountains, each of which is a work of art. After Aix-En-Provence, we return to Marseille and start our city tour here. During the tour, we pass through the old port and visit the Notre Dame De La Garde Church, located on a high hill, one of the city's most popular historical venues. Palais Longchamp is the second stop of our tour. During our visit to this structure, which serves as a Museum of Fine Arts, we visit its gardens and fountains from the outside and take a photo break. At the end of our tour, we return to our ship. Dinner and overnight on board.

After breakfast on board, we will transfer to Turin (TRN) Airport. Guests who wish may join the Turin City Tour organized as an extra by our guide.