My family has been through its share of experiencing wildfires. The Greek landscape is especially vulnerable during the hot, dry summer months, when humidity is low, and rainfall is almost nonexistent. Climate change has changed the algorithm, as 2021 has been showing.
With our sons Antoni and Yianni, we decided to take a family vacation to Rovies, Evia (see map). It is a popular summer destination for locals, and accessible via car or car/ferry.
We departed on Monday, August 2, and arrived in Rovies after a challenging three-hour drive (thank you Antoni). The village is on Evia’s northwest coast, facing the mainland. On Tuesday, we toured the north end of the island, driving to the waterfalls in Synagri, then continuing to the resort town of Aghia Anna, where, in 44 degrees Celsius, we procured two beach umbrellas and appreciated to a much greater degree the virtues of Stoicism. The water, however, was refreshing. We then drove back to Rovies, where we proceeded to local taverna for a lunch of grilled sardines, villa, makaronia me kyma, and tzatziki. It was around three in the afternoon when Antoni received an alert from 112.gr, stating that there were fires in the Mantouvi-Aghia Anna area. We looked towards that directions, and could see the clouds from the fire. People started coming out on the streets and started wondering where all this would lead. At this point, we sat down and made the decision to evacuate, as we had a car, and knew that the town 20 or so kilometers to the north (Aidipsos) had frequent ferry service to Arkitsa on the mainland. We approached the innkeeper of the Souris Hotel (Nikos), who have us a song-and-dance routine as to how nothing was under his control regarding the power outages (our A/C was not fully functional, and the temperatures were hitting 40-plus Celsius). I assured Niko that Mother Nature was acting, but his whining kept entertaining us beyond patient limits. He finally accepted half-fare for the day that we spent in the hotel. Our drive to Aidipsos was no more than thirty minutes. We stopped at a scenic overlook to take photos and videos of the eerie spectacle across the bay. For some strange reason, visions of Pompey, in the way that I remember after my visit in 1979, kept coming up in my mind. It was a calamity unraveling, and about to worsen. Here we are two days later, and Rovies has been evacuated; over 100 structures have been damaged by the fire, and residents are waiting it out in Aidipsos (to which they were evacuated by ferry yesterday). The main thing is to follow instincts… we did, and evacuated Evia (via Aidipsos) on Wednesday afternoon. All this while Athens was experiencing devastating fires that originated in the suburb of Varympopi. Hundreds of residents were displaced and structures burned. Received text from a friend that his friends’ houses have burned to the ground. The area around ancient Olympia has been on fire since yesterday.
Mediterranean lands on fire.
Dante, please help.
Odysseus' Quest 