By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted 22 minutes ago
Tourists near the Parthenon temple on the top of the Acropolis during a heatwave in Athens, July 14, 2023. LOUIZA VRADI/ Portal
Several visitors have become unwell at the famous tourist attraction in recent days. To help them, the Red Cross is on site and is distributing bottled water.
Athens’ Acropolis will have to close again on Saturday during the hottest hours of the day, when temperatures could reach 41C in Greece, which has been hit like part of Europe by the heatwave, according to the weather service.
The UNESCO World Heritage-listed site, which is stormed by tourists, will remain closed between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., according to the Culture Ministry, which had already made a corresponding decision on Friday for the hottest hours of the day. Since Thursday, the Red Cross has been on duty at the foot of the Acropolis to distribute water bottles and help tourists who may have fallen victim to sunstroke or fainting.
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“We will be distributing at least 30,000 50cl bottles of water every day,” Antonios Avgerinos, president of the Greek Red Cross, told AFP. Visitors have been victims of uneasiness in recent days, especially at the top of the Acropolis, where they came from to admire the Parthenon.
High risk of fire
Since Wednesday, Greece, like other European countries, has been experiencing very hot weather. This heatwave is likely to reach its “peak” this Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, with temperatures set to reach 41C in several parts of the country such as the centre, Thessaly and the Peloponnese Peninsula (south-west). The thermometer in Thebes, in the center of the country, rose to 44.2 °C on Friday, according to the National Observatory of Athens.
The Greek authorities have urged the population to exercise extreme caution in their movements and warned of the high risk of fire. According to a decision by the authorities in Attica, the region around Athens, several parks and green spaces in Athens will remain closed this Saturday.
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In the summer of 2021, severe fires broke out in Greece due to the scorching temperatures, especially on the island of Euboea, a hundred kilometers from Athens. The Acropolis of Athens welcomed more than 3 million visitors last year and the number of visitors keeps increasing, especially due to tourists boarding cruise ships that dock in Piraeus, the major port near the capital.