I am neither
especially clever nor
especially gifted. I
am only very, very
curious. – Albert Einstein
ree decades ago, with the ink
barely dry on my university degree
and a passion for history and fine
arts, I bought a one-way ticket to
Europe and headed off on an
extended backpacking trip.
Looking back, the journey was an
unglamorous version of the Grand
Tours of the 18th century, when
impressionable Brits would venture
to Italy with knowledgeable
chaperones to learn about the
classics and antiquities, from
ancient ruins in Rome to
architecture in Florence. In my
case, I was travelling alone.
But what I lacked in
companions, I made up for in
curiosity: I vowed to get up close
and personal with those Italian
Renaissance artworks that I'd
only ever seen via slides projected
onto the wall of a university lecture
hall. I was a girl obsessed. And it
was thrilling.
I think of this as I board the
Viking Sky, delighted that my
itinerary – an eight-day
Mediterranean cruise from
Rome to Barcelona – includes many
of the locales of my backpacking
adventure. is time, I'm about to
luxuriate in Viking style. But that's
not all.
What tickles my neurons is that
Viking promotes their trips as a
"thinking person's cruise". I'm
intrigued by what that means in
practice. After all, my cruising wish
list is long: I fancy learning new
things and I want to polish up a few
facts that have long gone rusty in
my memory bank. By nature an
inquisitive soul, I want my curiosity
both aroused and sated. Can Viking
deliver my tall order? It doesn't take
long to find out.
On my first evening, I relax in
the ship's smart theatre and soak up
MEDITERRANEAN
An artistic journey of the
Kate Armstrong uncovers her sense of curiosity on an artistic
journey of discovery through the Mediterranean from ancient
Rome to Barcelona that brims with vibrant Catalonian culture.
34
VIKING
