I cannot help wondering how Croatia, despite heavy corruption throughout its business sphere (and with the church heavily involved) manages to run its “tourism interface” so well.
This is probably the only thing that works in Croatia. The reason behind it is that tourism is practically the only business that fuels national economy.
Because, if customs/immigration were changed to NIL, then one wouldn‘t even be able to fly there from say Italy. Which one can.
I don’t get that. Greece is both schengen and EU. So NIL would be fine. Greece publishes its Port of Entry airports separately (somewhere).
Yes sure. I was actually referring to the „INTL“ bit of the table in AD1.3. I assumed this might get removed if the Customs/Immigration entry in the AD entry for LGKC got changed to „NIL“. But maybe it won‘t.
Here are some pics from the part Shoreham to Kithira.
IFR flight plan was filed but I didn’t bother with London Control and just flew at 5000ft, 7000, to BILGO, changing straight from Shoreham to Lille and picking up an IFR clearance there, FL070 initially as we had ~10kt headwind. I reckon if the UK implements its “N-reg screwing” in Dec 2021 as is currently threatened, this will be the way things will be done for anyone who doesn’t get their UK IR sorted.
In flight catering needs to improve 
LFOB (landing fuel on board) forecast at 16USG. This is OK, and tailwinds were forecast for the later part of the route
Alps coming up
LFOB improving to 18USG
Not much snow on the Alps but still spectacular as always
Over the Alps, the familiar Adriatic landscape
Final Mali Losinj LDLO
There was nobody in the tower and nobody on the frequency, and the windsock could not be seen from a distance, but was spotted on short final to be pointing slightly the wrong way (relative to the wind at Pula LDPL, which I had from Pula ATC) so we went around. But by then the wind turned around a bit so we came back and landed
A fair few planes. EuroGA really helped to put these Croatian island airports on the map, over the last 10 years or so
This was a lunch stop only, so we headed for the El Paso restaurant, for a most excellent meal which puts UK airport food (actually nearly all European airport food) to shame
Departure an hour later to Dubrovnik, this time VFR low level (3000ft). This is Mali Losinj “main town” which will be familiar to many
Zadar airport with its “Bora runway” at 90 degrees to the coast
Brac and the airport – 1700ft elevation
Hvar
This is probably Mljet
Left base for Dubrovnik RWY11, between the big jets. Excellent airport, excellent ATC, everything works perfectly here. Croatia very recently changed its UK coronavirus admission requirements and requires a rapid test for all UK arrivals! Here one flies very close to the terrain, if at 1000ft
Final
Bowser arrives immediately
Dubrovnik old town is scenic and definitely worth a visit. Wasn’t too crowded; this virus crisis is a good time to visit places… Reportedly even at Venice it is possible to walk without getting crushed
We took the cable car to the top of the hill for some great views
They kindly agreed to put some EuroGA leaflets there. These are really effective at promoting our community
Back on the apron
Albania is desolate
The “secret” Albanian military airport, with the taxiway going straight into the hill. If you look close-up you can see a load of ancient Migs dumped there
Over Greece and commencing the RNP Z procedure for Ioanina LGIO runway 14
Final
The old walled city
Parked up and getting avgas. Ioanina is straightforward by Greek standards (just a previous day’s PN) and has customs, immigration and avgas, and is not Fraport-priced at €108 for everything including 3 nights (this includes €44 “customs charge” which is ridiculous since Croatia is in the EU).
We had a curious apartment, which was a converted shop in a totally run-down shopping centre. Inside was really nice and we wondered if this was even a legal conversion
Welcome to Greece – the land of lovely friendly people, wonderful food, and rock-hard mattresses which make a Greek holiday an exercise in insomnia
The lake. A boat trip to the island is highly recommended. There are some museums; Ali Pasha is a local hero here, despite having been a total savage by the standards of the last century or two
The old walled city is very nice.
Departing LGIO, from RWY 14, climb to FL090
A still frame from the external camera
The island on the lake
Some departure wx to avoid – wasn’t an issue
Kithira doesn’t open until 1200 UTC so I flew extra slowly to make sure
The familiar Ionian landscape
Korinthos Canal – not easy to spot from a slightly side view
LFOB for Kithira showing at 61USG which leaves reasonable options for getting out of Kithira. Poorly overlapping airport opening times leave few options other than the Fraport-ripoff Corfu LGKR which will fleece you of some €400, but the worse part is a totally outrageous 20-page PPR guide
Monemvasia
Elafonisos
An interesting gorge
Kithira LGKC, left downwind for 02. Kalamata military kept us at FL110 until 15D which made for a steep descent for the visual approach
Final LGKC
This is a still frame from the external camera
Parked up. I had no tiedown ropes so bought some in town for €6/kg and came back to put them in. A TB20 is not really at risk but it does no harm
Avlemonas – the most scenic spot on arguably the most beautiful Greek island
A couple of pics I took on my last trip to Kithira, 2011. Avlemonas and Diakofti
Great holiday
It would be more fair to us humble aviators if you posted raw pics and not to enhanced ones like from a tourist magazine
Fantastic trip, thanks for the write-up!
Lovely pictures, the right timing to visit Dubrovnik by the look of wx & streets !
Some repeatedly visiting ‘mass’ tourists manage to receive honors from local Councils and given the city “Keys”.With all these travailes you should be given the state Keys.!
Everyone would agree except the HCAA 
Wonderful trip report! Have a nice flight back :-)
