Aegean Sea

Forest fires have consumed some 500 hectares (over 1,200 acres) of land in İzmir, Turkey's Aegean coast, an official said on Aug. 19.

The coastal town of Posidi, on the Kassandra peninsula of Halkidiki in northern Greece, is seen in an aerial photo taken on Saturday. The tourism season peaked last week with thousands of Greeks taking advantage of the August 15 national holiday.

A popular bar on the island of Mykonos has been ordered to close for four days from Monday after officers of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR) and police suspended its operations due to tax evasion.
As the bar had also been ordered to close for two days last month for tax evasion offenses, this time the penalty was doubled.

Turkey's Aegean coast draws around 50,000 windsurfers every year.

The number of illegal migrant arrivals on the islands of the eastern Aegean is on the rise compared to last year, according to data released by the European Union border agency, Frontex.
"In the first seven months of this year, the total number of detections in the Eastern Mediterranean was down 6 percent from a year ago to almost 28,200," it said.

Bulgarian tourists blocked on the Greek island of Samothraki can get a free meal once a day at several establishments near Port Kamariotissa, as well as free overnight accommodation, said the press office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Italian tenor Alessandro Safina on Aug. 11 performed in the Aegean resort town of Çeşme to raise awareness for the conditions of stray animals.

Aboard the frigate accompanying the Yavuz drilling vessel in the Eastern Mediterranean, Hulusi Akar and commanders were briefed about Turkey's activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean seas.         

Dora Bakopoulos, the artistic director of the Aegina International Music Festival, will be inaugurating the 14th edition of the annual event on the Saronic island on August 7. For almost three weeks, classical music aficionados will be able to enjoy performances by a plethora of musicians from Greece and abroad.

At least 22 irregular migrants have been rescued in the Aegean Sea off Turkey's southwestern coast, said security sources on Aug. 4.