From Haifa we will head north into Lebanon, many years ago known as the Switzerland of the Middle East. Then we cross the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and reach Cyprus, where we plan a short stopover in Pafos. The next island to cross will be Rhodes, before we fly along the eastern shores of the Peloponnese peninsula on our way to today’s final stop: Athens. 

 

Lebanon has a great hinterland with a mountain range that extends almost the entire length of Lebanon, paralleling the Mediterranean coast for about 240 km (150 mi), with northern outliers going as far as Syria

 

 

Their highest peak (not visible here) is “Qurnat as Sawda” (“Black Peak” in English), at 3,088 m (10,131 ft).

 

Over Beirut (which was once known as the Paris of the Middle East) and its big airport, which is testament to its former popularity, but sees today far less traffic

 

After a short hop over part of the Med. Sea we have reached the eastern portion of Cyprus

 

Turning west brings us over Larnaca and its intern. airport

 

The limestone cliffs of Cyprus are famous for their caves, some of them are not even known to the locals

 

Our planned stopover in Pafos, which serves as a joint civil-military public airport

 

After a short break we continue our flight westward, here we fly along the highest mountain of Rhodes. Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece in terms of land area and “Attavyros” is with 1,215 m the highest mountain

 

Approaching the beautiful island Milos, also known as the “Island of Colors” thanks to its jewel-colored waters and its buildings, which are painted in vivid primary tones

 

Finally we have reached the Peloponnese, a large mountainous body of land. It offers its many visitors some spectacular archeological sites like Olympia, Mycenae or Tirynth, but also Byzantine churches and superb old castles

 

 

We had north to our destination Athens

 

 

Athens intern. Airport Eleftherios-Venizelos comes into sight

 

Many cruise ships wait here to pick up their passengers

 

 

 

Thanks for viewing. The next three weeks I’ll be away from my PC, so the tour will continue in the second half of October

I am thinking there may be some serious questions posed to this as a RL flight plan!

Best done in the sim, then, and beautifully presented too.

This is a great journey. Waiting for more.

Actually, one comes into thoughts when sim-flying above a country like Syria or Lebanon... or Ukraine, where I am quite often...

Great pictures nevertheless.