Heat forces new Acropolis closure amid fiery temperatures
Greek weather experts said the heatwave would intensify until Sunday with temperatures surpassing 43C in Greece.
The thermometer hit 42.9C in the town of Sparta on Tuesday, according to the national observatory.
The Acropolis, one of the world's most popular museums with up to 23,000 visitors a day, would close on Tuesday and Wednesday during the hottest hours between midday and 5.00 pm (1400 GMT), the culture ministry said.
The decision was taken "for the safety of employees and visitors", the ministry said.
The Acropolis, sitting on a rocky hill overlooking Athens and which has a priceless collection of artifacts, was also partly closed on July 8-9 and has seen similar measures in the past two summers because of the heat.
Too hot
About a dozen mostly foreign tourists were gathered around the closed gates of the landmark as the heat intensified.
"It's too hot to be in Athens. The heat is slowing me down very much. And it's just very uncomfortable," said Chris, a 48-year-old American tourist, who explained that he had missed a flight to one of the Greek islands and would be stuck in the Greek capital until Thursday.
"I don't want to be in Athens," he declared.
Christina, a 49-year-old Italian visiting Athens with her mother and 10-year-old daughter, said her family was used to the searing heat because of conditions in her home country.
"Now I think we will have lunch. We will find a restaurant with AC," she said.
The Athens region could see temperatures reach 43C on Saturday, according to the weather site meteo.gr, which warned of "the risk of negative effects on health".
The labour ministry suspended outdoor work between midday and 5.00 pm in several regions as part of emergency measures to help workers cope with the heatwave. Some cities opened up air-conditioned public rooms.
With scientists warning that rising temperatures would cause more frequent and more extreme heatwaves and other freak weather conditions, Greece and other Mediterranean countries have been through a growing number of ultra-hot summers.
Authorities said that 2024 was the hottest summer ever recorded in Greece.
In neighbouring Turkey, temperatures that are above the seasonal average are expected to last until the end of July, according to the MGM national meteorological service.
Temperatures have been about 35C in Istanbul and Ankara since the weekend and in the western resort of Izmir was predicted to reach 42C on Wednesday, according to the MGM.
In North Macedonia, which has been battling a number of forest fires, authorities said temperatures would only reach a peak at the end of the week.
High temperatures have also been predicted for Albania, where a number of forest fires raged on Monday, and in northern Bosnia as much of the Balkans sweltered in intense heat.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Acts of kindness help Athenians cope with heatwave
"I feel like the heat brings us together," said the young performer after receiving the free water, The city is in the middle of what is forecast to be a week-long heatwave. Nevertheless, she felt the sweltering conditions were fostering a sense of camaraderie. Greece's climate monitor warned that temperatures would reach 43C in parts of the country on Thursday -- rising to 44C on Friday. The authorities this week ordered the partial closure of the ancient Acropolis temple due to severe heat, for the second time this month. To help workers cope, the labour ministry has suspended outdoor work between 11.00 am and 5.00 pm in most Greek regions, as part of emergency health measures. Some cities have opened up air-conditioned public rooms and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has sent out teams of volunteers to hand out water at the Acropolis museum to sometimes overheated tourists. Air-conditioned shelters In Kypseli, one of Athens' oldest neighbourhoods with a high proportion of low-income families, not everyone can afford air conditioning, said Polixeni Della, head of Kypseli's municipal cultural centre for the elderly. Since Monday, seven of these centres have been open in the city centre from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm to "offer air-conditioned spaces to citizens due to the very high temperatures", the Athens municipality said in a statement. Nikolaos Dalamagkas, a 60-year-old homeless man, was among those who found refuge at the cultural center. "I only come when it's very hot," he said. "Here, it's not just homeless people. I also meet people who have no electricity because they can't pay their bills," he added. The heatwave is not expected to ease in most Greek regions before Monday. But residents and local businesses have also taken it upon themselves to rise to the challenge. Helping the elderly Air-conditioned pharmacies have become a popular haven during heatwaves, especially for the elderly. Kypseli pharmacist Marina Kosta said senior citizens frequently drop in to "catch their breath, enjoy the air conditioning and then continue walking. "They sometimes come saying they don't feel well and want us to check their blood pressure," she added. In the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki -- the country's second largest -- one pharmacist said she had started delivering medication to local residents. "Our customers, mainly elderly people and those with heart conditions, have stopped going out due to the very high temperatures, so we are providing them with everything they need at home to help them avoid the risks posed by excessive heat," said Stella Stergianou, the pharmacy's owner. Others, like Andreas Papadimitriou, a 45-year-old tire repairman, have learned to soldier through regardless of the heat. "I don't need it. Customers may complain, but not me," said Papadimitriou, who doesn't even have a fan in his workshop. "I work all day, even without taking breaks during the hottest hours. You need endurance for this job," he said. Much of the country has been placed under an elevated fire risk this week. Already, since Tuesday, firefighters have been battling a major wildfire near the mountain village of Feneos in the Peloponnese. © 2025 AFP
Le Figaro
a day ago
- Le Figaro
In Hong Kong, Madeleine Progin Keeps the Flame of French Literature Alive
Some 12,000 kilometers from Paris, the founder of the independent bookshop Parenthèses remains steadfast in her mission: keeping French literature alive in Hong Kong. One walks into the Parenthèses bookshop in the heart of Hong Kong as as one might enter a church — quietly. On the second floor of the Duke of Wellington House building, which is aristocratic in name only, this shrine to French-language literature stands in defiance of a world in constant acceleration. No stress, no pressure. Time can be savored like a priest reading his prayer book, far from the hustle and bustle of an overheated city where luxury and finance reign supreme. Madeline Progin, the high priestess of Parenthèses, settled in Hong Kong over forty years ago. Originally from a small village near Neuchâtel, Switzerland, the self-described 'country girl' followed her city-dwelling husband, Marc, to the ends of the earth, convinced that the whole adventure would only last a short time. Enchanted by this 'city where anything is possible,' the young woman decided to make a childhood dream come true there: to open her own bookshop. Publicité "There were no books at home, but I knew how to read before I went to school. My father was a farmer, and my mother worked a variety of odd jobs. I'd scour the village library, stealing books from girlfriends. Every Christmas, every birthday, I'd order books. They were my greatest gift," she recalls. When she arrived in Hong Kong, there was only a very modest French-speaking outlet on the fourth floor of the same building. It sold books, but also chocolate, champagne… Books that travel halfway around the world "Hong Kong was a city of entrepreneurs with incredible energy. People worked night and day, it was all very exciting," recalls this emblematic figure of the French-speaking community. At the age of 26, the young woman obtained assistance from the French Consulate and bought the business with her husband. A few years later, the Parenthèses bookshop was approved by the Centre national du livre (CNL) and became a 'benchmark French-language bookshop.' "We receive around 150 to 250 kg of books a week. Novels, biographies, fiction, poetry, but also comics, history, mathematics, cookery, language learning — 95% of our books come from France," confides the bookseller, as she sweeps a half-amused, half-despairing gaze over the walls of this discrete sanctuary where literature stacks up like a bastion against oblivion. 'Our mission is to remain eclectic, curious and inclusive of all genres' —Madeline Progin, founder of Parenthèses bookshop "Our customers are demanding — they want the latest releases, whether from Gallimard, Grasset, Le Seuil, or Picquier for Chinese translations. Our mission is to remain eclectic, curious and open to all genres. Books take about two weeks to reach us. Inevitably they're a little more expensive, but that's the price of passion, independence and a book chain that crosses half the globe," explains Progin with the energy of a fanatic. A large, brown leather club chair, studded, worn and crackled, sits at the entrance of the bookshop. It's here, for the past 30 years, that some of France's greatest writers have come to sit down for a signature, a meeting, a photo. Like Michel Houellebecq, over 10 years ago: 'It was quite something,' says Progin with a smile. "The day before, he had given a reading of his poems at Macumba, Hong Kong's only African bar. It was a bilingual reading, together with translator Sonia Au. He read in French, Au in Cantonese. In the room were expats, curious passersby, poetry lovers and, of course, Houellebecq fans. All hanging onto the writer's every word. Publicité Changing reading habits On the walls of the bookshop, customers can see the faces of Pierre Assouline, Philippe Claudel, Susie Morgenstern, Camille Laurens, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Dany Laferrière, David Foenkinos, Andreï Kourkov, Chantal Thomas, Marie Darrieussecq, or that of Boualem Sansal, with his eternal adolescent look. Kamel Daoud was due to come in June, but declined the invitation following an international arrest warrant issued against him by Algeria. Today, those blessed days when authors paraded around to meet their public seem to be over, and the future of Parenthèses may be in jeopardy. "Since COVID, habits have changed. People no longer want to leave their homes, which explains the drop in attendance. Add to that the declining number of interested expats, competition from online platforms and the rise in operating costs — rent, salaries, transport, everything has gone up. We can no longer cover our costs," laments the bookseller, who has given herself until the end of the year to make a final decision. In a swansong-like sentiment addressed to the French-speaking community, Madeline Progin urges literature lovers to get out and buy their books from Parenthèses. 'Reading habits have also changed,' concludes Madeline Progin. "These days, we're afraid to venture into literature. We open a book. We leaf through it, skim it, no longer pay attention to the style, the characters, the twists and turns. People don't have the energy to get involved anymore, and that's a shame.' It's hard to say whether Parenthèses will make it through the winter. 'Reading is a friendship,' wrote Marcel Proust. In Hong Kong, this friendship still exists in French — but for how long?
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
Greece mulls water-saving moves as heatwave intensifies
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the cabinet had discussed plans to make water companies more "viable", noting that reserves in Athens were down 50 percent compared to three years ago. There will be additional use of desalination technology and water reuse, the premier's office said, adding that Greece globally ranked 19th in terms of drought risk. The National Observatory of Athens recently warned that, following high temperatures and low rainfall in June, almost all of Greece displayed above-normal drought levels for this time of year. Temperatures continued to rise Wednesday in a heatwave expected to last until Sunday. Between 40C and 44C are expected on Wednesday in the eastern, central, and northern inland regions, as well as on the islands of the eastern Aegean Sea, according to the website of the Athens National Observatory. In Athens, the heat reached 36.3C around 1:30 pm (1030 GMT). It is expected to rise to 42C on Thursday according to To protect visitors and guards, Greek authorities have closed the Acropolis in Athens during the hottest hours of the day, between 1:00 pm and 6:00 pm, until Friday. 'The asphalt is boiling' The Greek government has also banned outdoor work in several sectors during the hottest hours to minimise health risks. "It's inhumane to work in such conditions. The asphalt is boiling," Panagiotis Arvanitidis, 35, a member of the food delivery workers' union in the Thessaloniki region (north), told AFP. "The ambient temperature in my home over the past two days has exceeded 30C," said 50-year-old medical saleswoman Anna Spania. "Without air conditioning, survival is impossible!" she added. The heatwave's highest temperatures so far were recorded on Tuesday at Tragana, central Greece, at 44.9C, according to
