At one stage we had planned to go to mass in the Duomo last night, but in the end we changed our mind. We had still thought to go to mass on Sunday (ie today) in the Duomo, but after at least a half hour on line I could find out all kinds of interesting things about the Cathedral except the mass times! We decided to go to the massive newer church we had visited yesterday instead - it had three Sunday evening masses! More of that later.

Major objective for today was to be the Parco Acheologico Di Siracusa - proud home of several Greek and Roman temples, a magnificent Greek amphitheatre and some less magnificent remains of Roman amphitheatre - not to mention some once upon a time quarries, with massive caves in which St Paul is reputed to have preached - the Latomie.

Having read up on the Parco, it sounded very much like our Agrigento experience, so we went with low expectations of customer relations: no signs, ticket office miles from the entrance and well hidden etc.

We walked the kilometre or so to the park, having been recommended by Trip Advisor that sixty year olds could do it easily, and as soon as we were near we began to see multiple, very clear signs for the ticket office. We walked through an area that housed several souvenir sellers (clearly a much reduced presence from peak season) and bought our tickets and asked about the audio guides, which had been recommended in what we had read.

We were given clear directions to the entrance proper to the park, and found yet another ticket office which was able to provide the audio guides and a map. Unlike Agrigento, the map numbers went sequentially and matched the audioguide. With a couple of minor exceptions we were able to navigate our way around the comparatively small archeological zone.

The stars of the zone were the Greek remains, stretching back to the sixth century BC, when Siracusa was emerging as a major Hellenistic centre in Magna Graecia. The scale of the Temples was significant - as can clearly be seen even from the remains. The amphitheatre is in many ways better preserved than some of the others we have seen on this trip. It could hold 16000 in the audience, and drama was a major attraction. It's white stone crescent is backed by further excavations into the surrounding rock which served as store rooms in the area's hey day.

From the theatre we moved to the Latomie - the areas from which much of the stonework of the city of Syracuse was excavated. You can access the cavern known as the Ear of Dionysius - which served as a prison whose acoustics allowed prisoner conversations to be overheard. The open areas have become a pleasant garden. Other caverns were used in later life by trades such as rope makers.

As has become the norm this trip, there were very few others in the park with us. The stories of queues, sore feet and heat from peak season travellers bore no resemblance to our calm and comfortable experience - assisted, of course by our luck with the weather.

Last stop in the park was the Roman amphitheatre. It gets pretty bad reviews for being overgrown and badly signed. Not the case for us. While certainly no Collisseum, the sections left after the Spanish plundered so much of the stone for their city buildings in the 16th century give a good sense of how the Romans entertained themselves in the provinces.

We ambled back home, succumbing to the temptation of a pastry with our coffee, eventually being driven from our outdoor seat by the ever present young smokers.

A quiet afternoon was followed by some unexpected discoveries.

Our plan was to go to mass at 7 in the Basilica of our Lady of Tears ,then go towards Ortigia for a meal of local specialties in a well reviewed place.

Surprise 1. When we got to the church, to the massive area where we expected to find mass - the one we had explored the previous day - it was semi deserted. I asked at the office where mass was, and was told it was on the sanctuary - out the door and up some stairs. The massive area we had assumed to be the main church was in fact the crypt!

The sanctuary was at least as large as the crypt, but you could look up into the soaring cone that formed the roof of the church. For a change, lights were on, although only around the sanctuary proper. The outer area were still a shadow zone on indefinite shape and purpose. Right above the altar was the famous weeping statue. There was nothing about it that made it look any different from millions of other mass produces pious objects, yet it had given rise to this massive church, thousands of pilgrims and a major devotion.

Surprise two: after a reasonably expeditious mass, spoiled only by the echo in the sound system in the massive space, we walked back towards Ortigia. When we finally found our restaurant, billed as being open every day, it was in fact closed. The question now remains - just for Sunday, or for, as so many places currently were for " ferie" - off season holidays. That was one for later.

We eventually found a place where we had pizza for dinner. Nothing particularly special about it, and certainly no attempt at local specialisations. Even the list of craft beers included no Italian entries.