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A tourist walks through a water spray in Athens
Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis / dpa
In Greece, temperatures around 44 degrees Celsius are expected the whole week - the scorching heat will therefore continue.
The community service warned again that the risk of fire remains high because of the drought.
The Ministry of Energy called on all citizens not to set the air conditioning to very low temperatures.
"26 degrees and no more," said the Department of Energy.
The performance of the country's energy system is being put to the test because of the prolonged heat and the air-conditioning systems running at full speed.
For this reason, all technicians have been put on alert.
Because of the extreme drought and strong winds, a major fire got out of control on the holiday island of Rhodes on Sunday, as the fire brigade announced on Monday morning.
Hotel complexes on Rhodes have so far not been affected by the fire and the heavy smoke formation.
However, the civil service ordered three villages in the west of the island's capital to be evacuated.
In large parts of the holiday island, the power went out temporarily on Sunday evening.
With the first light of day, fire-fighting planes and helicopters were used to contain the flames, as reported by state television (ERT).
A fire had also broken out on the Peloponnese peninsula.
The fire brigade was only able to bring it under control with the massive use of fire-fighting planes and helicopters.
"Historic heatwave"
Almost all meteorologists are already speaking of a "historic heat wave" and compare the duration and the high temperatures with those in 1987. At that time, more than 4,000 people died in Greece after several days with values above 40 degrees.
Some meteorologists even fear that the thermometers could show a record in Europe in the coming days.
In 1977, 48 degrees Celsius were measured in Athens and the city of Elefsina, some 30 kilometers to the west.
This is the highest temperature measured in Europe to date.
The dangerous thing - say doctors - is that the temperature does not fall below 30 degrees even at night.
So the body cannot recover from the heat after several days of agony.
Air conditioning systems also have side effects: Many people already have sore throats and headaches because of the air in the air conditioning systems, which run around the clock.
Medical professionals advise that people should take care of the elderly and children. This also applies to tourists who are not familiar with the extreme heat. When this heat will subside is unclear. Some meteorologists believe the dangerous situation could last for up to two weeks.
The heat wave is also continuing in Turkey. Temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius are expected in the fire-affected provinces of Antalya and Mugla in the coming days. Wind speeds of up to 30 kilometers per hour are also expected in the Bodrum holiday region. The wind has been hindering the extinguishing work for days and ensures that fires spread quickly and fires that were believed to have been extinguished reignite. The mayor of Bodrum had therefore called on the residents on Sunday to keep watch and to put out smaller fires that flared up with water.
In Italy, the holiday island of Sicily was particularly affected by fires at the weekend.
Especially in the east around the city of Catania, the flames caused severe damage, including in holiday complexes on beaches.
Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi signed a decree on Sunday, clearing the way for more fire brigade troops from other regions to be sent to Sicily to help.
Before that, the west of the holiday island of Sardinia was badly affected by fires.
Flames were also blazing there in tourist areas.
The island's civil protection authority only predicted a medium fire risk for all of Sardinia on Monday.
More bushfires are blazing on the mainland in southern Italy.
kha / dpa
