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In Athens, the Acropolis is closed to tourists due to "the worst heat wave since 1987"

2021-08-02T15:42:33.285Z


The main archaeological sites of Greece are no longer accessible during the hottest hours due to the record temperatures recorded.


A deserted Acropolis, tourists absent from the ticket offices and the silence of a cathedral, the image seems unreal for a month of August in Athens.

Greece, facing

"the worst heat wave"

in more than thirty years, according to its prime minister, closes its archaeological sites during the hottest hours.

In the rue de Dionysiou Areopagitou, at the foot of the sacred rock, normally crowded with tourists in this season, few are those who, hats on their heads, brave the scorching temperatures of this early August.

Read also: Climate: the tipping point towards irreversible warming may have already been crossed

The mercury is already approaching 40 degrees Monday noon when the last visitors rush behind the gates of the Acropolis, before the doors close.

Only a few lyre notes escape;

they come from a street musician who protects himself from the furnace in the shade of a building.

Highs of 43 degrees are expected in Athens and 45 degrees in other parts of Greece.

The Acropolis closed from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, but tourists will find doors closed from Tuesday on all open-air archaeological sites in Greece, in the afternoon until Friday, the culture ministry said.

In the song of the cicadas, a handful of tourists walk in the shade of olive trees near the Acropolis and still try to enter the Unesco World Heritage site.

"Too bad, we'll wait until tonight to go back,"

said Frank Meyer, a German tourist turned away in front of the gates.

"We will find something else to do in the meantime," he

adds, disappointed.

The very popular air conditioning

A few steps away, the Acropolis Museum, a popular new destination, promising air conditioning and time travel.

A hundred people, fanning themselves with the means at hand, are waiting in front of the entrance, under a blazing sun.

“Oh my God,”

exclaims Mary Cooper, newly arrived from England with some friends.

“We didn't expect there to be so many people,” she

says.

After a few seconds of thinking, the group still decides to get into the queue.

Read the report: The fight against global warming, the great challenge of the 21st century

A few meters from the coveted entrance, a man rushes into the crowd, water bottles in hand to join his family, his forehead glistening with sweat.

“It's a bit of a choice out of spite to come to the museum now.

We would have done it anyway, but since the Acropolis is closed, we have decided to do it now ”

, testifies Mathieu Rodriguez, a French tourist stuck in the queue for twenty minutes.

"Climate threat"

Since Thursday, Greece has been going through a scorching period which is expected to peak on Monday and Tuesday and last until Thursday.

"We are facing the worst heat wave since 1987,"

warned Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, urging the Greeks to

"limit their electricity consumption"

to avoid a blackout.

In July 1987, a heat wave killed more than a thousand people, due to lack of air conditioning and air pollution.

Read also: Climate: "The worst is yet to come", according to IPCC experts

Under the effect of the scorching sun, several fires broke out in Greece last weekend, without causing any victims, in particular on the island of Rhodes and in the north-west of the Peloponnese.

These two fires were

"in recession"

Monday but the firefighters were still trying to control them.

Dozens of villages and hotels were also evacuated in Turkey, in the face of the progression of fires which have been raging for six days and have left eight dead.

Read also: The gems of ancient Greece are eroding under the effect of climate change

Several regions of Italy and Spain are also facing scorching temperatures and more fires than usual.

"We are in a phase of absolute climate deregulation

,

"

lamented the Greek Deputy Minister of Civil Protection, Nikos Hardalias.

"In July, we had 1584 fires against 953 in 2019"

, he said on local televisions, estimating that

"we are no longer talking about climate change, but about a climate threat".

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-08-02

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