Erika S. * (64) knows Greece well. The Solothurn native lived for eight years on the eastern Mediterranean, earning her living as a tour guide. But she has never experienced such a heat wave. “Yesterday Monday we were 48 degrees when we got into the taxi,” she says to Blick. “You only have to breathe, hold the water bottle to your mouth or take a shower. There is no energy for everything else. “
The heat wave that is currently paralyzing southern Europe is dangerous. With temperatures well over 40 degrees for days, countless forest fires have developed, governments are begging for fire-fighting planes and advise the locals to reduce all activities to a minimum. At least eight people have died as a result of the heat so far.
Hotels and taxis cash in on the heat
Erika S. and her husband have an apartment near Athens, but when they got there on Saturday, it quickly became clear: They weren’t staying here. «The air conditioning was broken. It was not possible to endure that. We then tried to book a hotel and luckily found one in Glyfada, about 15 minutes from Athens. »
The room is small, but very expensive: “270 euros per night, they cash in on the heat here”. Nevertheless, it is the place where Erika S. now spends her vacation. “You don’t have a chance to go into the sea, your feet burn in the sand.” She and her group – a colleague is also there – are out and about in taxis and air-conditioned shopping centers, ordering food home, following the instructions of the authorities and sleeping all afternoon, “like everyone else here at the moment.”
When she no longer likes to drink, she eats watermelons – without coffee and alcohol. Erika S. only goes out in the evening, from around 10.30 p.m. Then it is bearable at around 32 degrees. That doesn’t sound like a dream vacation.
“I would have preferred we hadn’t come”
“It’s nice to see the sea,” says Erika S. “Still, it would have been better if we hadn’t come.” Above all, she worries about the people on the streets, the refugees who are exposed to the heat all day long, often old people and small children.
The government had called on workers not to come to the office whenever possible, medical staff were at the attack. “Already because of Corona, and now all the people with heat stroke!”. Locals would say that there have been no comparable temperatures in the past 30 years.
“Air conditioning systems at the stop”
Federal meteorologists assume that the heat wave will last at least until the end of the week. The hot air in the Athens area comes from the Algerian Sahara. In general, it could be said that the air mass comes from west to south-west. This originally warm air mass is then further heated under the influence of high pressure. In technical terminology, this process is called subsidence and describes a large-scale decrease in air mass, which generally means warming.
Blick asked readers who spend their holidays in the heat to share their experiences. Many say that although it is very hot, they expected such temperatures and come to terms with dividing their time between the pool and the sea. For example Gianco F. *, who sweats in Protaras (Cyprus). He says it is bearable in the water; his two sons spend every possible minute in it. Otherwise, chill out and cool drinks are the most popular.
In Italy and Crete, too, the heat restricts life
Elena R. is already back in Switzerland. * She was with her partner and two children in Vallefiorita, a village of 1,500 souls in Calabria (I). She says you could go outside in the morning and late at night. They should have spent the afternoons in the house, and slept right next to the air conditioning. The heat is also a problem for the animals. On Monday, the family found a dead kitten next to the house.
Ermo A. * is with his family in Crete, at Elounda Beach. “The air conditioning systems are at their limit,” he says. They would only function to a very limited extent in the rooms. Ice cream is no longer available. Some guests have already collapsed. “Everyone is struggling to cool down,” he says.
Experts assume that temperatures will drop a little on the weekend. 38 degrees are expected in Greece and then the Etesia or Meltemi winds should also start. But even then there can be no question of a real cooling.