There is a very large church near us called Our Lady of the Tears which we checked out first today. A miracle is said to have occurred nearby in 1953 ( M: Not my birth. That was another miracle! This took place a couple of weeks after my birthday) in the home of a very poor family. The daughter was very ill with her pregnancy and the family prayed to Our Lady in front of the statue in their home. Soon after tears are said to have flowed from the statue and continued for four days. Experts were called and the statue was filmed. Samples were taken of the tears and pronounced to have the composition of human tears. And you guessed it- the woman recovered and delivered a healthy baby boy. These samples were not present during our visit because they are elsewhere on pilgrimage. They have been to Australia and Poland and Malta.

The church itself is huge and has capacity for thousands. It was built only in 1994 amid controversy about its size. It has a massive cone shaped spire and is not the usual Latin Cross in design, rather it is circular in shape. Some ancient ruins found during the excavation work have been preserved and have been placed inside the church. It seems drastically out of tune with its environs, and can be seen for miles. Interestingly - or perhaps, sadly- despite its being relatively new, it is already showing the signs of the ubiquitous concrete cancer, and general need of maintenance. There is a delicious irony in the prevalence of falling lumps of cement in a country where it was invented, and where other structures have lasted thousands of years! The particular devotion evident in this church is clearly a major undertaking, with a hostel for pilgrims visible a block or so away.

We had fun at the local markets this morning a short walk away in the old section called Ortigia. The produce, like we've seen in the other markets, looks very fresh and with a large number of customers this is clearly correct. We bought supplies for dinner (M: Anne had a plan. All the fruit and veg vendors wanted to sell her kilos of stuff and she wanted only one or two) and a kilo of blood oranges after establishing the common price for them. A key draw card is the "Borderi" where the stall holders really make a big show for all the customers. Free samples of delicious cooked, still warm ricotta, was being handed out amid the antics and laughter. We can see why we have seen this stall on the TV - check out Boderi Ortigia on you tube - and decided we will come back at a time when there might be fewer people. Today being Saturday would be peak time.

Lunch was a delicious sandwich made at home with the fresh bread we had just bought. Later in the afternoon we went for ramble around Ortigia. It's the kind of place with lots of little laneways to explore, and will easily occupy several wandering sessions. We finished with a drink outside the cathedral, once again on Ortigia. The square outside the Duomo is a magnificent piece of Baroque design, surrounded also by various palazzi and civic buildings - several built by the Spaniards using materials "recycled" from the Ancient Greek and Roman ruins a few kilometres away. Anne had a Bellini and Mick a Sorbetto as we watched the evening passeggiata - kids on bikes and scooters, couples with toddlers, elderly folk arm in arm all just ambling about.

I threw the vegetables and chicken and herbs purchased earlier into a saucepan for our dinner which we managed to clean up. ( M: Delicious!)