European Tour Apr / May 2016 - Croatia, Greek Islands and return via Carcassonne

Milos holiday, 27-29th April 2016

We drove up to the north-eastern tip of this small island and stayed in the very nice Andreas Rooms in Pollonia. We were very well looked after and every evening our hosts would bring up some breads, fresh eggs, or vegetables from their gardens. We spent one day driving around the island, and the next full day kayaking around the coastline and exploring sea caves. We really liked this island and again, would have liked to stayed longer.

General routine

Before the photos, it would be worth mentioning our general routine (in relation to flight planning) once the trip was underway. Milos proved a classic example of how we made our decisions. The day trip to Samos had cut slightly into our fuel, but we still had plenty for our current plan to fly west to Kithera, then out via Corfu (where we could refuel). In the evenings over dinner, we would discuss the flying we had done and the flying that was up ahead. In these discussions, and in looking at the opening times of both Milos and Kithera, it made sense to “hop” to an intermediate stop. Looking at the map, we decided to go back on ourselves a bit and try to make a quick side trip to Santorini. The fuel would be a little tighter, but we still had plenty as long as there were no unforeseen problems.

This is the way planning is supposed to work in Greece:

You decide on a side trip to Santorini.
You phone your chosen Handling Agent (Goldair) using your local number.
Tell him you when you’d like to come and when you’d like to leave.
Send him an e-mail with the “general letter” with all your details attached.
Go to the taverna and have dinner.
At some stage he will phone you back having discussed your trip with the airport authorities. He will have a slot for you or suggest an alternate time. You agree your timings over the phone.
An e-mail arrives from the Handling Agent confirming your times, or you send one to him.
Skydemon VFR plan and flight plan filing – 3 minutes.
Total planning time for our side trip to Santorini was 10 minutes – albeit spread over 2 or 3 hours whilst the Handling Agent did the running around.

Having learnt how the system worked, we stopped trying to find a way of avoiding Handling Agents and used them to the max instead. They do actually provide a useful service!

With our side trip to Santorini agreed, we settled down to some tourism…

View from our accommodation at Andreas Rooms, Pollonia.

Some of the sights…

Clear cool water…

And on the waterfront at Klima, old fisherman’s houses, some of which are available to rent.

Puffin joined for the kayaking….

Our short stay in Milos was made special by the kayaking and some of the incredible meals we enjoyed at the beach front in Pollonia. The Orthodox Easter was gearing up by now and in the evenings, the whole town would turn out to join in a procession around the villages.

The next day was going to be a really early start to leave Milos just as the airport runway opened at 0700 local. Our stay in Santorini had been approved.

boscomantico wrote:

How / where did you book those hire cars?

Too easy Bosco. They were either offered to us when we booked our accommodation, or the Handling Agent could organise. In the smaller islands, it is not uncommon to get an e-mail with the car registration. You walk out to the car park and the car is there with the keys in the ignition, all ready to go. If you need to leave early, you park at the airport and leave the cash in the glove compartment, and the keys in the ignition.

This is where we really felt the benefit of flying ourselves around. We went to islands that haven’t been hammered by mass tourism and where the locals were genuinely welcoming to visitors. As such, things like “crime” didn’t seem to occur to anyone. Things were just done on trust.

Adding to that, we always felt that we were being offered a fair price from the start. The tourist price hikes weren’t in evidence at all in these places – or weren’t when we travelled just before the main season anyway.

Milos to Santorini – 30th Apr 2016

Key figures

61 nm, 30 minutes, Max IAS 170 knots, average G/S 120 knots, max altitude 2,000 ft.

Routeing
Both the routes eastbound to Santorini, and the next day’s flight westbound to Kithera are shown.

An early start as the airport opened. The apron was not excessively full.

We departed via Pollonia to have a last look at our accommodation…

Passing the little island of Folegandros, we were inspired to visit here one day. It seems to be a mini Santorini but because it does not have an airport, it promises to be completely unspoilt.

Then towards the crater of Santorini…

With our VFR arrival, we requested to join over the caldera. Approved. Self position left base? Approved. Maintain 2000 ft? “Approved. Call short final”. We flew along the lip of the caldera with million dollar views. It was impossible to get a photograph that does it justice, but it was just the most incredible view with the old white towns hanging off the edge of the crater.

Cleared to self position for left base runway 34R, there is significant terrain at the end of the downwind leg. This is the point where we turned left onto base leg (and belly up to this terrain).

Turning onto base…

Converting to final.

Met by the Handling Agent and given a terminal transfer bus…

We were out on the roadside and picked up by our hotel in 20 minutes. We had booked the Pantheon Villas on Booking.com for EUR90 a night. It was a steal! 3 floors, private pool, sun deck, kitchen and views. This photo is the lowest of the 3 storeys!

We just walked and walked and walked. Doesn’t everybody who visits Santorini? Puffin loved this place and came with us everywhere…

Puffin with wine

Puffin makes a friend. (A private joke – the donkey is a symbol of Guernsey).

An evening stroll to Oia.

And some of the pictures from our day walks…

A panorama shot of the caldera during our evening walk. No point in trying to give a sense of the beauty of this place. Photographs (well not ours at least) will ever do it justice.

We packed a lot in during the 30 hours stopover, but we had to push on as we were planning to make the EuroGA fly-in at Carcassonne, and we still had a trip to make to Kithera.

Santorini to Kithera – 1st May 2016

Key figure

122 nm, 50 minutes, Max IAS 165 knots, average G/S 144 knots, max altitude 3,200 ft. VFR

Routeing
Both the routes eastbound to Santorini, and the next day’s flight westbound to Kithera are shown.

A VFR departure was given and we departed once again over the caldera.

An uneventful flight into Kithera, albeit with a darkening sky and strong winds.
Joining right downwind for runway 02.

Turning base.

Final for runway 02.

Welcome to Kithera! The apron was empty.

We were met by our friendly Handling Agent who had his assistant haul huge lumps of concrete over for our tie downs. The darkening skies were an omen of things to come? He explained the weather was changing and that there was going to be very unsettled rainy weather in the next few days.

We went hiking to the North…

To the lighthouse – the Greek mainland is just across the sea.

We went hiking around old towns with empty Easter roads… Potamos here.

We went hiking in the gorges around Milopotamos with the old abandoned water mills.

In the gorges there was the easy way…

And the hard way…

There were peaceful monasteries – here Moni Mirtidion…

With peaceful cats…

There were old forts, wild shores and quiet seaside villages.

We stayed in the town of Diakofti – EUR40 a night with Booking.com

There was a rather iconic shipwreck just off the coast;

And traditional life going on in the villages.

Some of those villages had bridges built by the Brits – Katouni Bridge being the largest…

The old villages had traditional tavernas – we were lucky enough to get a table at Familia in Fratsia. There was no menu. The owner came over to us and talked to us about food and the sort of things we liked (everything). She went away, cheap (excellent) wind showed up and then food started arriving. It was actually Cretan cuisine, but we weren’t being picky – it was a truly amazing 2 hours of piggery which came to EUR50.

We stayed 3 nights in Kithera and absolutely loved this wild island. As our Handling Agent predicted when we arrived, the weather had been turning for the worse, and although we had some sunny periods, it was quite clear that the days of blue skies and gentle breezes were over for the week. We started to make plans (and contingency plans) for our exit north east accordingly.

Peter wrote:

May I ask, PG, why you flew such a distance over open sea at 2000ft?

That’s a very good question. You are looking at it from an engine failure perspective, I presume?

If the engine were to fail, we are going for a swim on the end of a parachute, regardless of our altitude. Altitude = time for sure, but if the engine fails it is only a matter of time before you start swimming. The only time I need is to get a call to ATC and to prepare the aircraft for ditching, and for me, 2,000 ft is sufficient for that. Any time in excess of that is nice to have, but not essential (IMHO).

I spent a lot of my past life flying around at 250 feet, so 2,000ft seems rather stratospheric to me at times. This has to be a personal decision, and I wouldn’t lobby for any altitude over another. I was high enough to remain in radio contact with Athens, and low enough not to bother the domestic air transport.

Flyer59 wrote:

Flyer59 19-May-16 17:39 #35
Hi Paul, I’m glad you liked Hvar, Milos and my friends place in Pollonia. Sorry that i couldn’t meet you, .. next time i will.

Yes it was really good advice you gave us there – and we were very soory to have missed you! Our Hostess at Andreas Rooms on Milos was great. Just as well we both like animals though!