Istanbul, Turkey, to Lesbos, Greece

9 - 11 June 2008

The Picturesque Port of Molyvos

Being back in Europe again, I filed my flight plan on the Internet using homebriefing.com. However, Eurocontrol modified my rather direct flight plan to include an 80 NM detour via Greece (Error: 'STAR limit exceeded for LGMT' while the end of the route was the IAF???). Welcome back to Eurocontrol!

At Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen airport, I was happy to receive the landing and parking fee bill of 'only' 94 Euros (137 US$) until we were sent to another office, where we had to wait for 45 minutes for them to produce yet another bill for handling of 154 Euros (242 US$)!! And the only service we received was crew transport to and from the General Aviation apron.

Well, we had been warned by the Raid International group in Nevsehir that Istanbul, Sabiha Gokcen was very expensive. Then we filled the wing tanks up with 245 litres of avgas at 2.50 Euros per litre, the most expensive since Réunion. However, Istanbul is a very beautiful city full of magnificent buildings and treasures from its glorious past, so it was worth it. Also this was the only airport we visited in Turkey that had avgas, so an essential stop in any case.

The arrival formalities in Mitilini went smoothly and everybody was very friendly and welcoming. Surprisingly, one woman had a strong Aussie accent. Her family had moved to Australia when she was a child but moved back to their island in recent years. We rented a car and drove to nearby Mitilini (the capital), where we enjoyed a late Greek lunch with tzatziki and octopus by the charming port. We made the mistake of saying we had just arrived from Istanbul. “You mean, Constantinopolis,” they said. Perhaps it is time for the Greeks to let bygones be bygones and move on. After all, just about every nation has committed atrocities at some stage.

We drove through a major thunderstorm as we headed to the north of the island, about an hour and half from Mitilini via the mountainous route inland. We checked into the Sun Rise Hotel at Eftalou and later dined in the picturesque port of Molyvos (called Mithymna in the ancient pre-Greek times), a beautifully preserved town of stone-walled houses. More tzatziki, taramosalata, dolmades and moussaka accompanied by a nice bottle of white wine from Limnos.