Peloponnese

Two major forest fires were raging out of control on either side of the Greek capital Monday, burning houses, prompting residents to flee and turning the sky over Athens a hazy orange from the smoke.

Greek authorities urged residents of a coastal region west of Athens to abandon their homes as a massive wildfire raged uncontrolled on Monday, closing one of Greece's busiest motorways and sending plumes of smoke over the capital.

With Greece entering peak tourism season, electronic tickets for some of Greece's most popular museums and archaeological sites can now be purchased online at www.etickets.tap.gr, the Culture Ministry said on Thursday.

Work began Monday to raise a submersible bridge connecting the Peloponnese to the Greek mainland at the Corinth Canal. It has been out of use and underwater since early 2017. [ANA-MPA]

An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 is reported not far from the coast of the Greek Peloponnese Peninsula, reports TASS and BGNES.
 
The epicenter of the underground quake was 27 km west of the town of Methoni and 69 km southwest of the town of Kalamata. The earthquake was 30 km deep.
 
There is no information about injured and destruction.

"I was just 18 years old when I went trekking with friends in the Peloponnese in 1960. I remember setting up my tent one afternoon in an olive grove near Mystras when an old lady came over from a house nearby. 'What are you doing? You want to sleep here, in the cold? You'll die! Where is your mother?' she scolded me. She took me practically by force into her home, to her family.

An Athens appeals court has upheld an 11-year sentence against a Sicilian art and antiquities dealer convicted over the theft four decades ago of four rare murals from an Early Christian rural church in Steni on Evia.

A months-long investigation by Greece's fire service in cooperation with police authorities has found that most of last summer's wildfires in Eastern Attica, on the Ionian island of Zakynthos and in the southern prefecture of Ilia were human-caused, set by rackets seeking to have forests reclassified as crop or grazing lands or for residential development.

Swimmers enjoy a dip off the coast of Nafplio in the northern Peloponnese on Saturday, when temperatures reached 33 Celsius (91.4 Fahrenheit).

The Onassis Cultural Center has set up shop at the Archaeological Site of Messene in the southwestern Peloponnese for an event where artists are invited to explore the relationship between music and location. Running through Sunday, June 3, "Tuned City" comprises talks, performances and presentations. Admission to the site, which will open daily at 9 a.m., is free of charge for the event.