Palermo is a large city - the capital of Sicily, and I'm going to be hopping ashore shortly to get a closer look. This morning's tour took us to Cefalu, which some people were pronouncing Sef-a-loo and others Kef-a-loo , although actually it's pronounced Cheff-a-loo (as in Ciao - Chow, meaning goobye). The drive took us along the coast with more fantastic views of the mountains, and past a town where it is believed spaghetti was invented (can't remember its name).

Cefalu was a delight, and to top it all, the weather was warming up just nicely, and we're currently enjoying the best weather we've had for days. In Cefalu, we were shown around its impressive moorish cathedral, shown around a museum there, which included lots of very ancient pottery and one or two famous paintings, and an old Roman washroom, where they used to do their laundry (I'll bet they were more civilised than in the Saga Ruby laundry!!).

The old harbour was typical of italian coastal architecture (I know this because I've seen pictures of them on the tele), and a great spot for some wonderful photographs.

I think you can probably tell that I've really enjoyed myself today! Sicily is a place that I've always dreamt about visiting, and it more than lived up to expectations. Of course the guide was asked about the Mafia (did you know that 'The Mafia' is never mentioned once in the film 'The Godfather' - if that question comes up in the quiz we're going to be laughing - which reminds me; I had a game of Scrabble with Ruth from our table last night. She's very much an intellectual, and I expected to lose - but using words like AI, and JO???? - ai is some sort of sloth or toad or summat - both accepted words apparently - certainly not in the circles that I've previously played Scrabble in, but there you go). The guide, who was called Jackie (Jacqueline) told us that until quite recently Palermo still had a big Mafia problem, but following the well-reported government assassinations of just a few years ago, the police have put their foot down and things have been cleaned up considerably, with many Mafia people currently serving very long sentences in Italian prisons (wouldn't want to be any of those police involved in rounding them up, though, would you? I know how the 'families' like to tie up the 'family business'). Of course, everybody was in full, bouyant mood walking out to the coaches, and every Mafia quip you could think of - mostly "do you think there'll be horse's head for dinner tonight?" (actually that would be a really cool theme for dinner - horses head steaks, and grilled Luca Brazi (sleeps weeth the..) fish steaks.

Got back in time for lunch, and was surprised to see that it was Sunday Roast - surprised because I'd completely forgotten today is Sunday; the fact is, it's easy to lose track of what day it is when you're cruising (as you can imagine, after losing half of yesterday's curry, I kept a very close eye on my Sunday dinner, although it's not such a problem on a day like today, when most people are eating out on deck in the sunshine).

My cold has developed a bit, I'm afraid. Last night I had a rotten night, but I don't think it's going to get any worse - I think I'll probably survive.

Tonight, of course, is New Year's Eve, and there are rumours of fireworks, though with us being at sea at midnight, it's difficult to imagine how that's going to work - fireworks on board ship in the middle of the ocean doesn't seem such a sensible idea to me, but who knows? I've also heard it said that New Year celebrations can rave on into the early hours of the next morning. I'll have a workshop to do tomorrow, so I can't imagine me staying up quite that late - I'm more used to watching Jools Holland do his Hoots nanny thing, supping a quiet whiskey and going to bed early. We'll see.