Attica

Greece was not "cut in two" by the closure of a section of the national highway between Athens and Corinth because of a fire on a truck, as the pro-SYRIZA website Left.gr argued. The area of Kakia Skala is simply not the center of Greece - unless, of course, you listen to a few Peloponnesians who believe Greece to be the Morea and the "new countries" above it.

Road traffic on the Athens-Corinth motorway towards the Greek capital was restored after seven hours on Thursday night after a fire on a truck carrying liquified gas in Kakia Skala in early afternoon prompted authorities to close the road amid fears of an explosion.

The lane towards Corinth will stay closed until the truck is removed.

Ships departing from the ports of Attica for the Greek islands on Monday and Tuesday were almost fully booked as people continued to quit the capital for the August 15 holiday, particularly for destinations in the Cyclades.

The trip from central Athens to Elefsina and the West Attica town's Old Olive Mill takes me through a hot, "post-industrial world in transition and looming uncertainty," just as the note on the exhibition I'm heading to promises. The show is titled "Elefsina Mon Amour: In Search of the Third Paradise," and it is the headline visual arts event of the 2023 Cultural Capital of Europe.

Eleven large-scale fires in the Attica Region from 2017 to the end of July 2023 have destroyed over 55,000 hectares (550,000 stremmas), the National Observatory of Athens/meteo.gr said on Monday after data provided by the European Union's Copernicus mapping services and the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

Ring-tailed lemurs enjoy licking a fruit popsicle at the Attica Zoological Park in Spata suburb, eastern Athens, on Friday. With temperatures soaring to 40°C (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and expected to rise further, the zoo is providing frozen meals to a wide variety of animals to help them cope with the scorching conditions during the fourth heatwave in less than a month.

The repaving of Syngrou and Kifissos avenues in Athens which is currently taking place during the night hours will be completed before August 10, the Attica Regional Authority said on Thursday.

Syngrou, linking central Athens with the southern coast, and Kifissos, the national highway leading to and from Athens, are being repaved between 9 p.m. and 6 p.m. in both directions.

Nikos Hardalias, the current deputy defense minister, will be running for the position of Attica regional governor in the upcoming local elections, supported by New Democracy. The announcement was made on Monday.

Athens hotels have matched the occupancy rates of record year 2019 over the first six months of 2023.

The Council of State, Greece's highest administrative court, has voided the Attica Region's 10-year-plan for Pedio tou Areos park in central Athens.

The plan, which calls for more construction inside the park, should have made some sort of environmental assessment and should have been opened to public consultation, the court said.