Bologna, the capital city of the Emilia-Romagna region of central Italy, had, until recently, three unique sides to its personality: La Dotta (The Learned), because the oldest university (1088) in the western world was founded here; La Rossa (The Red), because of the terracotta-colored roofs, and, to a lesser degree, its penchant for left-leaning politics; and, La Grassa (The Fat), because of all of the great, original cuisine found within its postal code, like ragù, lasagne, mortadella and Pignoletto wine.

When my 15-year-old granddaughter, Talya, asked me what my favorite destination was, I had to take a minute. After 35 years as a travel writer, my usual answer to that question is wherever I’ve been last, but I felt she deserved more than my usual flippant reply.

As a result, the majority of Trieste residents these days are native Italian speakers, but in a place where Italian, Germanic and Slavic influence and language all bleed into each other. The geographic borders make no sense to anyone. You meet Italian nationals with Germanic surnames and vice-versa. You meet Slavs whose mother tongue is Italian.

In the southeastern reaches of the Bel Paese, where the Adriatic and Ionian seas embrace, lies the country’s breadbasket, Puglia. The pace is relaxed, life takes a breather and family and friends regularly gather around la tavola. Its heart and soul are nourished by la cucina povera (kitchen of the poor), the quintessential Mediterranean diet, which comes straight out of the zero-kilometer, terracotta-colored soil and the nearby bluest-of-blue seas and right onto your plate and into your glass.

OAT places great importance on the philosophy of Learning and Discovery which OAT takes very seriously -- and our guide, Hussien, even more so -- which elevated an already enticing itinerary to a far more immersive travel experience. Hussien, whose Ph. D. in Egyptology made him astoundingly knowledgeable and whose sense of humor, abundantly entertaining, and whose honesty left no controversial question unanswered and no subject off the table.

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At dawn, Marilyn had covered 22 of the 52 kilometres. She did not know it but she had already eclipsed Chadwick, who had become violently ill in the choppy water. When Marilyn became numb Ryder took out a black board and wrote on it "FLO IS OUT." Marilyn's best friend Joan Cooke shouted encouragement from the boat and Marilyn started swimming again.

After much speculation, it was determined that his discovery was none other than Machu Picchu ("old mountain" in Quechua, the ancient language of the Incas), and regarded as the estate of the Inca emperor Pachacuti. The location was chosen as a religious center due to its position in the mountains and its alignment with key astronomical elements important to the Incas. Still clouded in historical mystery, the inhabitants of Machu Picchu inhabited a vertical world, and their city is considered one of the planet's most beautiful ancient sites. Today it is one of the seven modern wonders of the world.

For centuries, artists and aristocrats, divas and dictators, poets and politicos, why even James Bond himself, have fallen under the spell of alpine breezes, the scent of lemon blossoms and the mesmerizing shades-of-blue of Italy's largest lake, Lago di Garda. Straddling three distinct regions: Veneto, Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige, this ladle-shaped body of water beckons travelers to experience the Italian dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing).

Most of us have been on a cruise, riverboat and barge; some good, some bad, and generally a bit of overeating. We've asked the members of the T-Boy Society of Film, Music & Travel what were some of their cherished moments, or lack of, when cruising the world's water ways.