Blizzard Surprises Tourists in Athens, Disrupts Travel
A rare blizzard surprised lightly clad tourists in Athens today, disrupting transportation and draping the marble Parthenon temple with snow for the first time in several years.
Six domestic flights from Athens to destinations around Greece were canceled because of bad weather, while international flights to and from the Greek capital experienced delays of up to three hours.
The Attica province Police Department ordered all vehicles in Athens suburbs to use snow chains because of ice. Police also closed some roads in northern Athenian suburbs because of drifts.
Officials in the port of Piraeus canceled passenger and cargo liner connections with Greek islands in the Saronic Gulf because of stormy seas, gale force winds and poor visibility.
Athens, which usually enjoys the mildest weather in Greece, has experienced snowstorms and freezing weather conditions for the last seven days. But the weather bureau had predicted an improvement today.
Police in Salonika, northern Greece, said dozens of mountain villages were still isolated near Greece’s northern borders with Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.
Reports from around the country say 10 people have died from the cold since the spate of bad weather began.
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