Athens Wildfires August 2009
 

Hi Everyone: Where to find information for someone travelling to Athens end of August 2009 regarding wildfires?

Thanks!

On forums like this from people who live in Greece! Definitely more up to date that way. I live in Greece & the tv is showing live broadcasts all day. Although the fires are extremely bad to the north & northwest of Athens, the city is not affected, nor is the airport, which is luckily surrounded by quite barren land for the most part.
What other info would you like? Where would any onward travel be to? What is the date of travel, as the picture could be very different in a few days (hopefully for the better!)
I'm quite happy to post on here the answers to any questions that I can.

Thank you Yiassas! Planning to arrive in Athens on Saturday August 29 for three days and then travel to Mykonos and Santorini. How is the air quality in Athens? Do you think it would be wise to not travel to Athens and go straight to the Islands? Any websites you can recommend to monitor the situation? Many thanks for your help!!!

yiassas - thanks for update. We're not getting a lot of news in US so I've been wondering the same thing as OP. We've seen pictures that appear to have the Acropolis shrouded in smoke with flames in the distant background, so glad to hear the city really hasn't been affected. Terrible news, though. We wish everyone well.

Efharisto! Thanks for your offer to answer questions. I'm leaving for Greece on September 15, but I will be in Thessaloniki, Vergina, Meteora, Arachova, Delphi and the Peloponnesian Peninsula before I arrive in Athens on the 23. I hope for everyone's sake that the fires are out soon.

Hi again,
I see no reason to cancel or shorten your Athens part at all, the centre is fine by all accounts, although many northern & eastern suburbs have been affected at times by the smoke & ash, but that soon changes as the wind does.
I have just been watching some updates, 150,000 stremmata (1 stremma is 1000 sq metres) destroyed & 200 homes burnt. One of the biggest fires still causing problems is at Porto Germeno, quite a way to the west of Athens, northwest of Corinth, with some people being evacuated by sea. See here for location,
http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=15531
I have seen some of the pictures of the aftermath, heartbreaking & an ecological disaster. I am hoping we are through the worst of it as long as there are no more strong winds to fan the flames.
Very sad, maybe you should be glad not to have too much coverage!
Just come & enjoy your trip! If there is anything else to report I will let you know when they do some more full broadcasts.

BTW, I've seen the picture of the Acropolis in the foreground & flames leaping in the background, they always look so much closer than they really are! I found that out with the fires on the Peloponnese in 2007, we had ash falling in our garden, the sky was an orange glow/haze for several days, & the fires were 70km away!

Just found this site,
http://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
I'm still exploring it, but you can click on EFFIS news map, then on Greece & it will give you all the news articles. Click on Current Situation & all the affected areas are listed in a box on the left.
We are now up to 212,000 stremmata destroyed :((

Awful. And thanks for the site. Our daughter spent last fall in Athens and she's been trying to get info from her former professors, so I'll pass along the site to her as well.

dfr4848, I remember you planning to go & see your daughter, & your trip report! I'm sure you are all concerned about the situation as I know you all loved it here.

yiassas - yes indeed it is certainly a beautiful country and we loved it. We're very concerned, as are so many people, and certainly pray and hope for the best.