i keep a diary

October 29, 2003

European Vacation Part 16: Scootering Again.

After our entire day of relaxing on Tuesday, we woke up on Wednesday with a hunkering for some action. So we packed our bags, piled into the car and headed over to the SCOOTER RENTAL PLACE! Wooooo!

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Grant proudly displays his can of "Master Cafe" iced coffee drink. Any time a beverage features a tractor trailer on it, you KNOW it's going to motherfucking kickstart your heart.
sunglasses ˆ grant
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We saddled back up on our HOGGZ and hit the road. We only managed to get about 1/4 mile when Grant, who was leading the pack, slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road hysterically laughing and pointing...
crete ˆ scooter ˆ chris a ˆ fatty ˆ grant
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...at this man's moustache. Check out Manoli's shit, yo.
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We managed to go only another hundred yards, before we realized that we needed to get gas. And hey, while we were stopped, we popped into the bakery that was nextdoor and got some still-warm doughnuts that were almost as big as our faces.
donut ˆ fatty
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Hahahah.
donut ˆ fatty
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Mmmmmm....doughnutlicious.
donut ˆ helmet ˆ me
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Grant peepin' through a dougnut.
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Our bellies full of warm doughnut, we hit the open road. We decided to take a 45 km backroads trip to check out the bad-ass Arkadi Monastery and then from there, if we had enough light, ride another 25 km and check out the Melidoni Caves.
crete ˆ helmet ˆ scooter ˆ sunglasses ˆ grant ˆ me
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The backroad route we took was amazing. There were all these tiny towns that with the exception of cars and electricty, seemed otherwise untouched by the 20th century. Check out the donkeys saddled with bags in the background.
donkey ˆ scooter ˆ fatty ˆ grant
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Durning a stretch of road, we noticed all these old ruin up on a hill and turned off the main road to explore.
crete
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It was a tiny little village with modern houses and buildings mixed in with structures that dated back to Venitian occupation in the 1200s!
scooter
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Me in front of a Venitian arch.
crete ˆ scooter ˆ me
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We hit the road again and after a lovely thirty-minute windy ride through all sorts of crazy-ass mountain terrain, we arrived at the Arkadia Monestary: which is one of Crete's most celebrated monuments of resistance against the mid-19th century Turkish occupation.
crete ˆ museum
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A small chapel off to the side of the Monestary tells the story (which I grabbed a rehash of from this site):

"The Greek freedom fighters would register their displeasure with the Turks (normally some Turks would be discovered dead) and the Turks would show their displeasure by killing everyone in a town or village. In 1866 around 1,000 Cretens took refuge in the Monastery fearing Turkish retribution. The people, which did include several freedom fighters, held out for two days before the 12,0000 Turks laying siege were able to rupture the walls. However, instead of surrendering the abbot (a local hero) and the people inside decided to ignite the gun powder in the powder keg room. 829 of the Cretens died. It is said anywhere from 100 to 1000 Turks were killed in the explosion."
church ˆ chris a
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The four of us read this truly amazing story and reflected upon it for a few minutes...
museum ˆ chris a ˆ fatty ˆ grant
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...before racing over to the cases and posing for pictures with the skulls of bad-ass, martyred Cretans who blew themselves up in order to take out some Turks.
crete ˆ museum ˆ skull ˆ fatty
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How did Megadeth manage to never write a song about this?
crete ˆ metal ˆ museum ˆ skull ˆ grant ˆ me
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Grant in front of the entrance to the cloisters.
crete ˆ scooter ˆ grant
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Worried about losing daylight, we decided to hit the road again and head for the Melidoni Caves. Here's us stopping to let a herd of goats cross the road.
goat ˆ scooter ˆ grant
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After a few kilometers of dirt roads, we hit another beautifully paved backroad.
crete ˆ driving ˆ scooter
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Which proved to be the perfect place to see just how fast our scooters could go when maxed out. Here's me risking certain death by taking a photo of my bike overtaking Grant's at 90+ km (approx. 55mph).
scooter ˆ grant
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After a long climb up a steep road, we paused to admire the view.
best ˆ crete ˆ scenic overlook ˆ scooter
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These tiny pics really don't do the mountains in the background justice. Click here to open a hi-res version in a new window.
crete ˆ scooter ˆ chris a
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A little further up we stopped again to check out another little roadside chapel.
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"Easy Rider Goes to Crete." Click here for the hi-res version
best ˆ crete ˆ scenic overlook ˆ scooter
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Another one. Check out the way the clouds are being dragged over the mountain top on the right. Click here for the hi-res version
best ˆ crete ˆ scenic overlook ˆ scooter
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Twenty minutes later, and down at the bottom of the mountain we just ridden over, we stopped again to warm our hands.
helmet ˆ scooter ˆ chris a ˆ grant
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I totally forgot to mention that the temperature had dropped sharply from the previous day and was in the low 50s, which might not sound too cold, but when you're riding a scooter at 50mph with no gloves, it's almost unbearable. Here's me using the exaust to defrost my frozen lil' phalanges.
cold ˆ helmet ˆ scooter ˆ sunglasses ˆ me
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Same with tha Grizza.
cold ˆ scooter ˆ chris a ˆ grant
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Once quick CHiPs-inspired coldlamp with the scooter...
scooter ˆ chris a ˆ me
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...and we continued on our way. Here's Chris' pic of him about to pass me on the open road.
crete ˆ scooter ˆ me
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After another (goddamned freezing) 15 minutes, we made it to the village of Melidoni.
best ˆ scooter
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And from there it was only a quick 2km ride to the nearby Melidoni Caves! Woooo!
scooter ˆ sign