This morning, our professor, Taso, called a quick meeting to talk about the wildfires burning just east of Athens. Turns out, the smoke from the fires we saw yesterday have gotten larger as strong winds have picked up.
One of the pictures I took as soon as we got off the ferry in Aegina yesterday shows some of the smoke rising from the fires. Aegina is about 15 miles from the port of Piraeus in Athens, so you can see just how far the smoke traveled.
For us, all is safe though as we have gone through the necessary procedures should an evacuation be necessary. But, as of now, there is no immediate danger for us.
Today is an off-day for us, so most of us are just resting at the guesthouse and taking care of any unfinished business. I just went out for a quick Gyro since I hadn't eaten lunch yet. My Gyro count is now up to 5 since arriving in Greece.
As I walked back, I could feel the strong breeze blowing through the streets. Leaves, plastic bags, and basically anything lying in the streets blew up and all around me as I walked among the dozens of people milling through the Plaka neighborhood.
Northeast of Athens, I could see the imprint of the nearby Pendeli Mountain covered in a smoky white haze. I figured whatever I saw would tell me how close or how bad the fires were, so I took a picture. You can just barely make out the mountain in the distance.
The fires have quickly become a top news headline around the world already, so I imagine Seattle will be picking up the story fairly soon if they haven't already. I've seen it on the front page of the New York Times, CNN, and BBC News, so you'll easily find coverage if you look for it. I think the BBC did a great job of mapping out the fires.
Anyway, we're all doing just fine, and tonight, I'm planning to head back up to the Acropolis so I can check out the Parthenon at night. Our ticket from Friday is still good, so I want to make sure to head up there at night, since the next two nights, we'll be interviewing for our research then on Wednesday we head to Hydra for a three day, two night excursion. Should be fun!
Meanwhile, I will continue trying to take pictures of the fires and smoke around Athens.
Cheers,
Sam
P.S. My camera is kaput...again. I'm using the back up one that my mom gave me. I think it's time to buy a new one.
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