Athenians are ‘escaping’ the hustle and bustle of the city to spend their Easter holidays in the countryside.
Traffic on the Athens-Corinth and Athens-Lamia national highways has been heavy since Thursday morning.
Due to road works there is a traffic jam in the area of Skaramanga, while Greek traffic police have taken extra measures on all the national and rural road networks for the holiday period.
Trucks over 1.5 tons will banned from using the routes leaving Athens on Thursday from 3 pm till 10 pm, while the same measure be active on Good Friday from 6 am till 4 pm.
At the same time, safety measures at the port of Piraeus and across Greece will be enhanced this week before Orthodox Easter, on Sunday, May 1.
Traffic from Piraeus
Outgoing traffic is forecast to soar on Holy Friday with ferry companies expecting a hike in passenger traffic by almost 5 percent compared to last year since Easter holidays this year combine with May Day.
Ferry companies assure that even though routes for many Aegean island destinations have been in demand, tickets are still available and travelers will be accommodated.
Traditional main destinations for Orthodox Easter include Paros, Syros, Mykonos, Patmos and Santorini, with morning routes to the Dodecanese islands completely booked for Holy Wednesday.
Reservations for the islands of Chios and Lesvos are also expected to reach 60 percent by Holy Thursday along with the morning routes to Chania on Crete.
The weather is forecast to be sunny and mild for most parts of the country, with the temperature highs reaching 22 degrees Celsius in northern Greece, 25 in the central and northern parts of the country, 22 in western Greece, 23 in the Cyclades and Dodecanese islands and Crete.
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