For more than 10 days, Greece has been ravaged by violent fires.

On site, French tourists on vacation helplessly witness the disaster, and sometimes find themselves very close to the flames.

In Athens, where the situation can deteriorate further, "we feel a climate of tension", testifies Franz. 

For 12 days now, violent fires have raged in several regions of Greece.

At the gates of Athens, the fire that has ravaged several localities since Tuesday was in remission on Sunday morning, but on the Peloponnese peninsula, in the southwest of the country, the main fronts in the regions of Mani, Ilia and Messinia , where several villages were evacuated on Saturday, were still active.

And on the island of Evia, nearly 500 firefighters continue to fight the fire.

In total, fifty-five active fires, including five major ones, had been counted on Saturday in the country, while more than 56,000 hectares have been devastated in the last ten days.

And for the many French tourists there, these holidays take place in fear and uncertainty. 

"A climate of tension"

There is nothing heavenly about Franz's vacation photos.

In Athens, ashes fall from the sky and thick black clouds hide the sun.

Also, the days of this Strasbourg holidaymaker are punctuated by the sound of canadairs.

"We feel a climate of tension in Athens", he confides, contacted by Europe 1. "From our airbnb, we could see ambulances, firefighters who came every 30 minutes to try to put out these fires outside. from the city."

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And if the fire did not reach the capital, Franz notes that it is really very close, he has moreover seen it with his own eyes at the Parthenon.

"From the heights of the city, we could see that it was burning on several sides of the mountain," he recalls.

"It was quite striking."

"Closer than you could imagine"

Julien and his friend Florent are rather reassured to have arrived in Athens.

They were evacuated from the island of Evia on Thursday.

On the island, the fire started within a few minutes.

“We were then ordered to leave the island and embark on small boats,” says Julien, “and when we turned around once on the boats, we realized that the fire was much closer than it was. 'one could imagine ... at 150-200 meters ".

A vision particularly marked Julien, "a sort of backhoe loader on fire on the beach ... It was striking and traumatic". 

And the authorities are warning: even on the outskirts of Athens, the situation can deteriorate very quickly.