Easter Exodus Sets New Record as 629,000 Vehicles Leave Athens

More than 629,000 vehicles person near Athens up of Orthodox Easter, surpassing past year's full and confirming the vacation migration arsenic 1 of the largest connected grounds contempt rising question costs.

Traffic constabulary reported that 79,464 vehicles exited the superior connected Good Friday unsocial betwixt 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., with 43,380 heading southbound connected the Athens-Corinth road and 36,084 traveling northbound connected the Athens-Lamia route. 

Congestion astatine cardinal toll points eased by Friday evening aft greeting delays.

Since the commencement of the accepted Easter question play — the Friday earlier Lazarus Saturday — a cumulative 629,214 vehicles person near the greater Athens area, compared with 616,397 during the equivalent play past year. 

The combined Holy Thursday and Good Friday full of 251,255 departing vehicles besides exceeded the 234,496 recorded connected those 2 days successful 2024.

A last question of departures is expected aboriginal Holy Saturday greeting arsenic the past metropolis residents contention to scope their destinations earlier the midnight Resurrection work — the affectional climax of the Orthodox Easter calendar, erstwhile congregations spill into religion courtyards crossed the state to person the Holy Light.

The grounds exodus underscores the enduring grip of Easter connected Greek life. 

Despite a 10 percent emergence successful intercity autobus fares and broader cost-of-living pressures, Greeks person shown small willingness to forgo the yearly instrumentality to ancestral villages — a ritual that efficaciously empties the superior and turns Athens into 1 of Europe's quieter large cities for the agelong weekend.

Orthodox Easter falls connected Sunday.