The unexplored island of Crete, Greece

Very nice photos! Thanks for sharing.

Great report and wonderful scenery. My mom (not Greek) was named after the island. Many people (in the US) don't even know it's a Greek island. She appreciates the uniqueness of the name, though.

I thank you both, sorry for taking so long to answer.
Funny to hear that Crete is used as a name in the US.
On the other hand, Cretans are known to be very proud of their island. Many Cretan immigrants who live now in the US for 2 or three generations still learn local music and dances and cherish and honor their roots. Maybe that's what inspired your grandfather to name your mother Crete?
Anyway, lets continue with this ride report with more spectacular places to visit if or when you come to explore the unexplored Crete

Everyone is absolutely stunned by the view.






Kiriaki, come, lets make a frappes coffee and relax a bit.

But let me show you the surrounding area in detail
First of all, this part of the Cretan Sea is the Merabelou Gulf (Κόλπος Μεραμπέλο&#965




To the right of the picture Elοunda (Ελούντ&#945 village with its gulf, famous luxury resorts and the small island Spinaloga (Σπιναλόγγ&#945 hidden in this photo from the peninsula. That island is pretty famous in Greece because of a TV series and its history. More info about the area in another ride report.
In the middle is the town of Agios Nikolaos (Άγιος Νικόλαο&#962.
Bottom left lies the village of Pahia Amos (Παχιά Άμμο&#962




The snowy peaks belong to the Lasithiotika mountains (Λασιθιότικα Όρ&#951
Elevation: 2148 m / 7047 ft, NOT the biggest mountains of Crete!








At the right of this picture, partly shown, is the only town in the whole south coast of Crete, Ierapetra (Ιεράπετρ&#945




The forest of Thripti (Θρυπτ&#942




And our next target, the peak of the mountain of Thripti (Θρυπτ&#942

We loose sense of time as we enjoy the view and our coffee but now it's time to move since we stayed here for over an hour and sunlight is precious in winter.

We try to explore as much as possible in a single day ignoring fatigue so we must choose our routes carefully and recalculate on site if the timetables don't match with reality. We wanted to get around the mountain of Thripti but the difficulties of the road and the beauty of the surroundings made us forget our original plan. Thats why, after a bit riding through the woods, we decide to head straight to the top.












The start of the "road" to the peak

The road is full of loose gravel which make our way up very hard sometimes. It is very steep and Kiriaki was busy holding me at the hardest parts so many pictures got a bit shaken but u get the point.









Rain had made some deep ditches so everyone (including me) was like: "F*ck, f*ck, where did we get into and how are we going to get out of here in one piece" Steep road with many U turns, heavy bikes, no funny stuff i can assure you! And don't forget, i had my wife as pillion. A pillion who held me with one hand and took pictures front and rear with the other, destabilizing the bike
Well, we managed to survive. Surprisingly, the most dramatic point was when Mario got caught in a ditch but managed after a few minutes to get out without any help. In the picture he can be seen struggling in the back to get his bike moving while frying his clutch a bit.









Here we check the bike for any damage (the smell made the frying obvious)

At least we have covered much of the road and climbed to a decent altitude already. Down there you can see the road where we started.






Well, as stated earlier, sunlight is precious, move it you wimps!









The road seems to come to an end. The peak is near...





Damn...

Well, at last we reach the antenna and park our bikes a little higher next to...





...the little church dedicated to Jesus Christ our Master Crucified (Αφέντης Εσταυρωμένο&#962 at 1476 meters (4842 feet)

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Loving the adventures and photos!

A video of the first spot with the great view towards the west.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KUdB8Mw9fyM" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="464" width="853"></iframe>

(I shot it with my shitty compact camera and my Parkinsonian hand, so you have to excuse the shaking.. )

And another video from the peak of the mountain.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QrGiaj60leM" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="464" width="853"></iframe>

(shot with the shitty camera as well )

Views:

South
(In the sea there is something like a shadow. Well, it is not a shadow, it's the tiny island Gaidouronisi or Chrisi (&#915;&#945;&#953;&#948;&#959;&#965;&#961;&#959;&#957;&#942;&#963;&#953; &#942; &#935;&#961;&#965;&#963;&#942, a paradise with white sandy beaches. You can reach the island easily taking one of the many ferries from Ierapetra town.





South-east

(Clicking the picture reveals full size)​

North-east

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North

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West

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&#913; map of our route so far




And one of the general area with the island Chrisi

This is where we stopped the last time and enjoyed the view. It was only 800 meters altitude. Now we are so high that the clouds are lower than us and the atmosphere is much clearer above a certain altitude.

More of this report tomorrow, sorry to stop in the middle again.

Great report. Educational and entertaining. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your beautiful and interesting country with us. This is a story that most of us will have never known about.

Very picturesque. Love the old stone church.