Best Panini, and Syracuse Cathedral Crypt.

We had seen on TV/ you tube clips of the Borderi stall in the Syracuse markets and had seen the owner in action on Saturday so decided to back when things were quieter . Today we arrived around 9 am and were told the mozzarella wasn't ready and to come back in 30 min. We collected a few items from the beautiful selection- tomatoes and bread and dates- and returned as suggested. We were in for a treat. The owner welcomed us in English and prepared our two panini in front of us together with a full running commentary of all the local ingredients, and there were many!

Chopped greens and herbs, sliced orange, then freshly made buffalo mozzarella, olives, chilli, creamed cheese. On Mick's he added cacciovallo, prosciutto, potato, caponata and on mine, fresh pecorino, potato, fennel, and mint. We ate half of one each as they were huge with freshly squeezed orange juice and reserved the other half for a late lunch. They were incredibly delicious.

Next was a look at the Cathedral - another grand monument to faith, and a very wealthy church. However, before that we wanted to explore what we thought was a crypt to the church but turned out to be something quite separate and quite special - the hypogeum of Syracuse, the entrance of which was right next door, and parts of which run directly under the Archbishop's palace.

We had arrived just in time for the brief hourly tour of the complex of tunnels and other spaces - Hellenic wells, medieval cisterns and passages between various palazzi in the Centro. The tour was in Italian only and Mick translated for me superbly. ( M: The benefits of a good imagination!) The guide was happy for us to do this as, once again, we were a group of two - at least for the first half of the tour. The subterranean spaces which began at the highest point of town (not surprisingly next to the Duomo) and ran down to sea level, emerging near the spring of Artesia near the ocean - a reason for Syracuse's location- were used as a shelter in WW 11 and could accommodate a large number securely. There were photos of this together with information and photos of the patron saint- Lucia. There is a procession to honour her on December 13th.

We continued to explore the old part of the town and stopped at a bar near Artusia's spring - home also to papyrus reeds which are something of a feature of the town, but one we didn't explore. Once again Malta came to mind with the fortifications and surrounding water which was quite lovely in the sun. The streets are very narrow and some neighbours could easily directly exchange a kilo of sugar across the street from the second floor apartments. The water along the shore (a marine reserve) is crystal clear and very appealing - even in what passes for winter. Temperatures most days have been around 14 degrees maximum.

Dinner was round two of the chicken and vegetables- yum.