Athens Easter exodus
More than 100,000 cars left Athens by Good Friday, April 11, as Greeks began the Easter holiday exodus (athens-times.com). Local reporting documented the heavy road outflow on April 11, describing a mass departure from the capital during the holiday period (athens-times.com).
By Good Friday, April 11, the Easter getaway had pushed more than 629,000 vehicles out of Athens, with police counting a sharp final surge on the capital’s two main highways. (ekathimerini.com) Greek police said 629,214 cars left the Athens area from April 3 through April 11, up from 616,397 in the same period last year. More than 250,000 of those cars departed on Thursday and Friday alone, and over 170,000 left on Thursday. (ekathimerini.com) On Good Friday itself, traffic police counted 79,464 vehicles leaving between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., including 43,380 on the Athens-Corinth highway and 36,084 on the Athens-Lamia route. Local reporting earlier in the day said the Good Friday outflow had already topped 100,000 vehicles as departures continued. (inewsgr.com) (athens-times.com) The annual Easter exodus is one of Greece’s biggest travel movements, as city residents leave for villages, islands and family homes ahead of Orthodox Easter Sunday. This year’s road total exceeded last year’s even as Greek outlets noted higher ferry and travel costs. (iefimerida.gr) (greekreporter.com) The rush was not limited to highways. On Friday, 16 ferries were scheduled from Piraeus to the Cyclades with an estimated 12,338 passengers, while Rafina was expecting about 5,690 passengers and Lavrio about 2,200, based on pre-booking data. (ekathimerini.com) The peak at the ports came a day earlier, when 32,344 people departed from Piraeus, 9,228 from Rafina and 2,587 from Lavrio. The Athens-Macedonia News Agency said the Coast Guard had put extra measures in place from Wednesday to manage the heavier passenger traffic. (ekathimerini.com) (amna.gr) Road authorities also imposed holiday controls. Greek reports said a ban on heavy goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes was activated on parts of the national road network to ease congestion and improve safety during the getaway. (athens-times.com) By Friday afternoon, police said traffic on the highways out of Athens had started to ease, suggesting the main wave of departures was passing. The return trip after the Easter weekend is expected to bring the next major strain on roads and ports. (ekathimerini.com)
