Last Monday I rented a motor scooter. I was a little disappointed...I wanted a motorcycle, but as it turned out it was the best for what I was doing. As motor scooters go, it was big...200cc and anyway I never went faster than about 50mph. And most of the time, because of the roads, I was going slower. The Island is very hilly and the roads have very tight switchbacks...so tight that many switchbacks have mirrors so you can see what's on the other side of the curve! The scooter had an automatic transmission...I've never ridden anything with an automatic. Even horses have at least three "gears." Anyway the scooter was a total blast.
The island isn't very big...maybe 4 times the size of Orcas. I headed west by northwest to the coast on the other side of the island. It took only half an hour or so to get to the west coast. The first stop was an area called Gilifada. The beach was beautiful and there was a bit of surf as well. I didn't swim there though. Pretty cold.
The next stop was a village called Pelakogotpitoa. I of course had a map, but it was confusing. There are no road numbers, and the map looked like someone dumped a bunch of spaghetti on it. I had to rely on signs saying thus and so village 6. I got a little lost a couple of times, but of course that's part of the fun. Anyway Pelakogotpitoa was the high point of the trip.
There are two beautiful bays. The larger one has a marina and some larger hotels, the smaller has a couple smaller hotels and a beautiful beach.
The small bay
There were several restaurants to chose from around the small bay. This one was tucked at the end of the cove and I walked on the beach to get there. Nice meal...a fetta cheeze omelet. After lunch I decided to go for a swim. The water was cool but not cold and the air temp was probably in the mid 80s. Very nice.
On the other side of the bay is a beautiful Monastery.
You can see the name here along with "guidelines" for visitors. I don't know what "respectable" means in this context. But there were a pile of clothes for those who needed help being respectable.
Just outside the Monastery are fantastic views.
and another cannon.
and another cannon.
I continued on to a town called Kirini, going up probably about 2,000 ft. on a narrow very twisty road. Going through a town on the way up, they had traffic lights at each end making the main street an alternating one way road.
Kirini was a beautiful, quiet and very clean village.
I continued from Kirini to this spectacular view point. Honestly the picture doesn't do it justice. this view, like so many I saw though the day were truely extrodinary.
It was a great excursion. I suspect there will be at least one or two more.
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