Greek News
What's been happening this week in Greece
Here’s a round-up of what’s been happening in Greece this week, that’s of interest to travellers.
New routes from easyJet
When you’re based in one country, like the UK, it’s easy to forget that some of ‘our’ airlines are actually Europe-wide networks. Budget airlines like easyJet and Ryanair may have initially set up in Britain and Ireland, but now they fly passengers across Europe, from Milan to Rome, say, or Paris to Frankfurt.
This week easyJet announced two new routes from Athens for next year. One will connect Athens with Luton in England, the other with Alicante in Spain. This means the company will have 17 routes to and from Athens, and although they operate out of 15 Greek airports, they don’t operate any flights within Greece. Unlike Ryanair which has flights from Athens to Santorini, Corfu, Chania on Crete and, from 1 May 2025, from Athens to Lemnos.
In the first 11 months of 2024 easyJet took 855,000 people into or out of Athens International Airport, which represented a 50% increase on 2023.
Escaping America
We try to keep politics out of this newsletter but it does seem that after the US November election result, some Americans are looking to leave the country. According to a real estate company called Elxis, which specialises in the Greek market, in the two weeks after the election enquiries about buying a home in Greece were ten times what they had been in the same period the previous year.
Enquiries in November were four times what they had been in October, and not just enquiries either: appointments to view properties increased by the same amount. By the end of 2025 the company estimates that Americans will be their third biggest customers, after the Germans and the Dutch. Some companies which specialise in what they call investment migration also reported a 400% increase in enquiries from the USA in the week following the election.
Extending the Athens Metro
This week it was also announced that Athens Metro Line 2 is to be extended to Acharnes, which is about 10 miles (17kms) north of the city centre. At the moment the line goes as far as Anthoupoli, so the extension will take it a few miles further out.
There’s no timeline for the project yet, and while it will mainly be beneficial to residents who commute into the city, the reduction of traffic levels will be a boon to everyone.
Cruising to Mykonos
We’ve written before about the situation with cruises on Mykonos, and how many residents are concerned about the numbers of visitors cruise ships now bring in. Well, you can understand their concern. Mykonos saw 1.29 million cruise passengers arrive in 2024 compared to 1.19 million last year. Divide 1.29 million by 300 (the cruise season doesn’t quite run all year) and that’s an average of 4,300 people arriving on the island every single day.
Despite people’s concerns, the cruise season for 2025 is going to be extended so that it starts in February and runs through to December rather than November. To help cope with the demand, four new docks for large ships are being built close to the Archaeological Museum to help relieve the strain on the main harbour.
Visiting Dion
It’s a long time since we visited the town of Dion and the nearby archaeological site, but we’ll never forget it as it’s such a special place, with beautiful mosaics. Our memories came flooding back this week when this short but lovely video popped up in our YouTube feed. Enjoy it!
Till next week
Mike and Donna
Instead of promoting overtourism and kowtowing to cruise lines, perhaps Mykonos could just limit the number of passengers who can arrive each day??