Hot Greece: Tourists brave triple-digit temperatures at the 5th-Century BC Parthenon temple on Acropolis hill in Athens. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
In Athens, workers on Acropolis are striking to protest being forced to work in temperatures as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit. The workers union says the action is “aimed at protecting the health of the security staff and visitors.”
Last Friday, the Greek government shut down the Acropolis, the hilltop complex that contains the 5th-century-BCE Parthenon temple and other ancient monuments, for three days due to the extreme heat.
But when the government reopened the Acropolis on Monday, the site’s tourism workers promptly voted to strike. “Measures have been unanimously decided,” the Panhellenic Union of Employees for the Guarding of Antiquities (PEYFA) announced.
Beginning Thursday, workers will strike during the hottest four hours of each day.
Greece’s National Meteorological Service EMY upgraded its emergency bulletin to a “red alert” on Wednesday, warning of extreme temperatures of up to 111 degrees Fahrenheit over the period from Thursday to Sunday, July 20-23.
Europe’s current heatwave has been dubbed Charon, after the mythical ferryman who carried souls to Hades. Fueled by an anticyclone pushing north into Europe from Africa, it is the second “heat storm” to impact the continent in a week, coming right on the heels of the Cerberus weather system.
The extreme heat is taking a particularly hard toll on tourism hotspots throughout the Mediterranean, where there is no relief in sight.
Temperatures on the Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily are expected to hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit in the coming days, which would reach “the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe,” according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
Nearly two dozen Italian cities — including Rome, Bologna and Florence and every other major — are currently under red alert for extreme heat. A red warning means the heat poses a “threat to everybody, not just vulnerable groups.” Italian authorities have advised the public to avoid direct sunlight in these places between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Spain’s weather service is expecting temperatures to hit 113 degrees Fahrenheit on the Iberian Peninsula, which is also under an alert for extreme heat. In parts of Spain, the temperature of the ground has hit more than 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
The potential of dangerously high temperatures are are now a downside of summer European travel. According to a study from Spanish researchers recently published in Nature Medicine, more than 61,000 people died during last year’s summer heatwaves across Europe. The mortality rate was highest in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal.
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