driving in Sicily if fear of heights?
 

Ah yes, as in posts for other countries, I need to figure out whether my other half can handle driving in Sicily. Aggression is not the issue: fear of heights is the issue -- and I'm not clear on which routes will involve lots of twists and turns on hilltop roads. Decent guardrails help the fear factor. We obviously don't need the car within the cities/towns, and would be ok taking the bus around Sicily, too. Palermo, Taormina, Catania, Siracusa, and Noto are the stops I'm thinking of at this point. I also haven't checked into the price of having rental car from P to T, turning it in around T (or I guess Catania), and then using the bus for the rest. Any other drivers out there with a fear of heights?! Thank you for your advice.

I have a fear of heights and drove in Sicily without too much stress.

We drove from:
Palermo to Segesta -- no problem;
Down to Agrigento -- no problem;
To Modica -- maybe one or two of those big, long bridges that are high up, between mountains, a little nerve-wracking for me but not too bad;
From Modica to Caltagirone and Piazza Armerina -- a few scary-to-me mountainous spots; we accidentally took the longer, scenic route;
And then from Modica to Siracusa -- no heights at all, took the scenic back roads and they were stunning.

Good luck and have fun!

Pleasant surprise to hear that Modica to Siracusa was ok, as I was worried about that one (or maybe between Noto and Siracusa). Also was thinking about drive between Siracusa and Taormina. I am quite torn about whether to include Taormina. I know it's supposed to have the best views of Mt. Etna, but we have seen beautiful views of Mt. Fuji in Japan and I'm not convinced Taormina is "worth" fitting it into our schedule. We enjoy local craft stores but not high-end stuff, and Taormina is sounding like we might only want to be there an hour or two.

The only place on your route that I've been to that was a problem was Taormina. Haven't been to Noto, however. All the rest are at or near sea level. In Palermo, take a bus to Monreale as it is right outside the City.

The one place in Sicily that was quite unsettling for my spouse (who didn't drive) was Erice. And I have to admit on the very foggy morning when we drove down, it was unsettling for me as well.

Driving to/from Erice at night or in the fog may be a bit of challenge, indeed. Otherwise, don't worry.

There are a couple of sky-high viaducts in Sicily, http://www.highestbridges.com/wiki/i...Modica_Viaduct. Also, there was a stretch of road--I believe it was on the approach to Gela from Modica--that was high and windy with relatively low guard rails. Would probably be easier if you were coming from the other direction and on the "inside." We wound up taking a back road from Siracusa to Modica that was just fine. Getting down from Taormina to sea level had a heart-stopping moment or two. I (the family heights wuss) was driving and managed without incident.

Correction: the squiggly high road was before Comiso not Gela

I think it was that viaduct I was thinking of. I wonder where we were going that I was driving on that? We stayed in Modica three days and took trips from there.

In any case, it was scarier to look at than to drive on. And I do have a fear of heights.

Hi Leely,
We almost wound up on one of them when I missed the turnoff toward Gela on the roundabout and headed for the newer part of Ragusa instead.