Lesbos

Another 758 foreign nationals illegally made their way to the eastern Aegean island of Mytilene in just the past 24 hours, authorities on the island reported.

Greek authorities say the coast guard has picked up 216 people in the Aegean Sea who entered the country illegally by sailing from the Turkish coast to nearby islands overnight, raising the total this week to more than 1,500.

Why pay thousands of euros to rogue migrant traffickers for a dangerous sea journey aboard a rickety vessel to reach EU territory when you can just taken a … short ferry boat ride to the antechamber of the “promised land”?

At a newly opened exhibition at the Greek Consulate General in Istanbul, Greek photographer and travel writer Tzeli Hadjidimitriou shares with visitors various moments from Lesvos, the island where she was born and raised, while avoiding the superficial ease of digital photography and its modern gaze. 

Excavations by researchers at the Natural History Museum for the Lesvos Petrified Forest took place near road works for the construction of a new road from the towns of Kalloni to Sigrio on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos. The scientists responsible for preserving other sections of the ‘Petrified Forest’ found new traces of fossilized tree trunks.

Another five hundred irregular migrants managed to land on the east Aegean island of Lesvos over the last 24 hours, according to local media and coast guard authorities, while three migrant-smuggling vessels were located just outside the island of Kos, further south.

By Stathis Kousounis

Sports events in Greek tourism hotspots are increasing, with the Spetsathlon 2015 taking place on Spetses this weekend (April 24-26) including swimming, cycling and running.

Next month Deskati, near Grevena, will hold a paragliding event, on May 1-3, and Lesvos will host the 1st Molyvos Bike Tour on May 24.

Eight out of the 16 cities in a Daily Telegraph travel piece entitled “Europe’s oldest cities” are in Greece, including Athens, Argos, Hania, Halkida, Mytilene, Patras, Thebes and Trikala. One entry was Larnaca, on Cyprus.

Each of the entries are accompanied by a photo of the city.

Authorities on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos this week issued ? dire warning that the border isle turning into a new "Lampedusa" as some 3,000 illegal migrants ? all from Third World countries ? have arrived just this year!

Coast guard officers on the northern Aegean island of Lesvos expressed concern Tuesday at a spike in the number of undocumented migrants arriving on Greek shores in a rise that senior officials believes is the result of the war in Syria.