Tourist departures from the ports of Attica for the Easter holidays recorded a significant increase compared to 2021, when there were restrictive measures due to the pandemic.
EASTER
With its inhabitants allowed to leave the city for Easter without restrictions for the first time since 2019, and doing so in record numbers, Athens (almost) resembled a ghost city on Easter Sunday.
Police say they arrested 11 persons and detained a further eight for trying to use dangerous fireworks in several places in the Attica region.
President Katerina Sakellaropoulou spoke from the northern city of Xanthi on Easter Sunday and focused on the hopeful message of the Resurrection, a promise of peace and prosperity, and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Like a pent-up release, the Easter exodus from Athens, the first real one in three years, has exceeded the last pre-pandemic one.
The Holy Fire, carried to Greece each year from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, is set to arrive on a special Aegean Airlines flight on Saturday afternoon, in time for the Easter midnight mass.
High-selling designs this Easter include pandemic-themed candles that resemble Covid-19 test kits, vaccination syringes and even red-colored representations of the ball-and-spike shaped virus itself.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for a four-day halt in fighting in Ukraine, starting Thursday to coincide with Orthodox Christians’ Holy Week observances.
An employee holds candles that resemble Covid-19 test kits, vaccination syringes at a store in Athens, on Tuesday, April 19. Greeks celebrate Easter with other Orthodox Christians on Sunday, with most restrictions now lifted.
President Katerina Sakellaropoulou sent a message of hope from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens on Saturday night where she attended the Resurrection service.
Greeks celebrated the Resurrection of Christ differently this year, with Saturday night services culminating at 9 p.m. instead of the usual midnight, due to curfew measures.
The Holy Fire arriving to Athens from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Saturday — the eve of Orthodox Easter — will not be welcomed with honors reserved for visiting heads of state, according to a government source, in a break with tradition.
More than 10,000 police are on call to prevent motorists to leave cities for their ancestral villages or other holiday destinations outside their region ahead of Easter.
Starting Friday, police inspections of cars on national highway tolls will intensify to identify those who travel outside their regions in violation of pandemic restrictions.
In its proposal to the government for Easter, the Church of Greece is proposing an increase in the number of worshippers allowed inside and outside churches during services.
Some 200,000 pensioners will receive significant raises as well as retroactive dues after delays of more than 20 months, probably after Easter.
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