Laurium

Tourists with backpacks walk toward their ferry at the port of Piraeus on Friday. The country's biggest port saw a fresh wave of departures by both foreign visitors and Athenians heading to the islands of the Aegean for their summer holidays. A total of 30 ferries left Piraeus on Friday, with another 16 departing from Rafina and seven from Lavrio.

The Greek Culture Ministry's advisory body on the protection of antiquities, the Central Archaeological Council (KAS), ruled that the small, uninhabited island of Makronissos is an area of archaeological interest.

The proposal came from the Cyclades Ephorate of Antiquities which is conducting field expeditions on the island in the past few years and the decision came on July 2.

The ferry route between the Greek port of Lavrio, in southeastern Attica, and the Turkish port of Cesme on the Aegean Sea is expected to begin its service in mid-June, it was announced on Wednesday.

Stavros Polychronidis, 53, arranges church candles at a factory in Lavrio, near Athens. Monday marked the start of Holy Week, leading to Greek Orthodox Easter on Sunday. With Monday's public holiday coming just before Labor Day on May 1 (Wednesday), a lot of Greek workers have arranged to take time off for vacations, as schools will remain closed until May 6 too.

A new sea link between Greece's Lavrio and Turkey's Cesme ports will be launched in June in what is expected to boost trade between the two Aegean neighbors by circumventing long overland travel for large trucks, state-run Athens-Macedonian news agency reports. The line will also serve tourists wishing to travel between the two countries.

The government is raising obstacles in the process for the concession of 10 regional ports through a Shipping Ministry bill that provides for the introduction of a 5 percent levy on the turnover of the contractor that undertakes each port.

The body of a man was discovered in the sea, near the islet of Agios Georgios, located south of Sounio, on Monday morning.

The unidentified body will be transferred by a coast guard vessel to the port of Lavrio for the forensic examination. 

The full moon rises over the ancient temple of Poseidon, on cape Sounio, 65 km east of Athens, Greece, on Sunday. [EPA]

The coast guard and traffic police were on standby on Tuesday to facilitate a final wave of people leaving the capital for their summer vacations ahead of the August 15 national holiday.

The main ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio were busier than in recent weeks amid reports that ferries on the route to Paros and Tinos were booked to capacity.

Passengers are seen boarding a ferry at Piraeus port on Friday ahead of the August 15 national holiday, traditionally viewed as the peak of the Greek summer season. An estimated 24,196 passengers left the country's main port for the Aegean islands on Thursday. Another 5,636 and 1,389 respectively departed from the ports of Rafina and Lavrio on the same day.