Departure of Athenians for Orthodox Easter speeds up at Attica ports on Thursday

The departure of Athenian citizens from the Greek capital for Orthodox Easter picked up the pace at Attica ports on Thursday, ANA reports.

Early on Thursday, Shipping Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis, escorted by Deputy Shipping Minister Kostas Katsafados and the chief of the Coast Guard Vice Admiral Georgios Alexandrakis, visited Gate 7 of Piraeus port and watched the departure of the ferry Blue Star Delos for the islands of Paros, Naxos, and Santorini with 2,400 passengers and 367 vehicles on board.

In a statement, Plakiotakis noted that until today all ships have been checked and inspected in both regular and unscheduled ship inspections, adding that the safety of passengers and crew is the government's top priority.

Slow speeds and heavy traffic on roads leading out of Attica

There was relatively heavy traffic on roads leading out of Athens on Holy Thursday, as growing numbers of motorists headed out of the Greek capital for the Easter holiday. According to the traffic police, vehicles were moving at very slow speeds on Athinon Avenue between Palataki and the Aspropyrgos refineries and from Schisto Avenue to Skaramangas, while there was also heavy traffic on Attiki Odos in the lanes toward Elefsina.

Traffic was similarly heavy on Kifissos Avenue leading north to the national highway, where a tailback of about 100 meters had formed at the Afidnes toll plaza, while additional toll booths at the Elefsina toll plaza led to a smoother service and lines of just 30 meters.

According to data released by the traffic police, a total of 44,430 vehicles left Athens heading for Corinth and another 35,669 toward Lamia between 6:00 on Wednesday and 6:00 on Thursday. These were up from 52,574 and 34,540 vehicles leaving via the same exits last year.

Trucks of more than 3.5 tonnes are forbidden from using national highway lanes leading out of the capital from 15:00 until 22:00 on Thursday and from 6:00 until 16:00 on Good Friday.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: Nikolaos Diakidis