To Palermo via Agira

March 14, 2025: Today, Friday, we made an effort to start the day early. We had a long journey ahead – driving from Catania to Palermo, with a small detour to Agira. The drive would take over three hours. Since we had celebrated Purim with the Jewish Community of Catania last night, we hadn’t yet prepared for Shabbat. We needed to arrive in Palermo with enough time to grocery shop and cook.

Before leaving Catania, Mark needed to say his morning prayers and, since there was no morning Megillah reading at the community synagogue, read the Megillah himself. We managed to check out around nine and started the drive through the mountains. Mount Etna was visible but shrouded in haze – not as clear as yesterday.

This highway quickly became one of our favorites, winding through vast agricultural fields and wild landscapes, with only scattered houses. The scenery was lush, green, and beautiful.

About 45 minutes into the drive, we exited the highway toward Agira, a small hilltop town. After yesterday’s accident, I was wary of mountain roads, but this one was wide, well-paved, and easy to navigate.

The landscape was stunning yet remote—endless green fields, bursts of wildflowers, and only a few houses. Then, suddenly, Agira appeared, perched along the mountain ridge. Wow. That first view alone made the detour worthwhile.

We had come to Agira to see the Aron of Agira, one of Europe’s oldest stone synagogue arks. Dating back to the Jewish year 5214 (1454 CE), it originally stood in a synagogue on Via Santa Croce. After the expulsion of the Jews, the synagogue was converted into the Church of Santa Croce, which no longer exists. Today, the ark is preserved inside the Church of SS. Salvatore. A very worn Hebrew inscription on it reads: “O House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”

We drove up the winding road to the town’s entrance and then had to navigate through its narrow lanes to reach the church. With oncoming traffic, no parking spots, and steep inclines where the car struggled for traction, driving was stressful. When we spotted a car parked on the sidewalk, we decided to do the same and walked the rest of the way.

We initially hiked uphill to the wrong church. A friendly local, speaking nonstop Italian and gesturing enthusiastically, pointed us in the right direction. When we finally arrived at SS. Salvatore, the entire facade was covered in scaffolding. It looked closed.

Luckily, a woman arrived to pray and entered through a side door. We followed and showed her a picture of what we were looking for. She pointed to the wall behind us – and there it was: the Aron of Agira. We could not get very close, it was fenced off as part of the construction, but we could see it.

With our mission accomplished, we returned to the car and set off toward Palermo, with still a two-hour drive ahead. The first hour took us through the mountains – breathtaking scenery at every turn – before descending to the coast.

The landscape along the coastal road resembled the eastern side of the island, with industrial areas, towns, and small patches of farmland between the highway and the sea on one side and the mountains on the other.

We reached Palermo and followed Google Maps to a grocery store about 8 kilometers away. It seemed odd that in an area with so many apartment buildings, the nearest store would be so far, but we followed the directions anyway. When we arrived, the building was boarded up. Luckily, we found another grocery store just down the street.

Our rental apartment in Palermo’s historic center included a parking space. After shopping, we arranged to meet our host in fifteen minutes—the estimated time Google Maps gave us to reach the apartment. However, Google kept putting us in impossible situations – leading us to places too narrow to drive through, down one-way roads in the wrong direction, pedestrian-only streets and even wanted us to drive up an alley filled with restaurant tables.

Our host, who didn’t speak English, was unable to help. At one point, we were stuck on a one-way lane when another car approached from the opposite direction. The driver had to reverse, struggling to maneuver while we waited for the road to clear.

After an hour of failed attempts to reach our apartment, we gave up and parked in a small garage about 350 meters away. It took four trips to haul everything – including all our groceries – up to the apartment.

So far, Palermo has been only frustrating. Hopefully, once we start exploring, we’ll like it more.