Athens

The Weather

Guardian:

Southern Europe sizzled in record-breaking temperatures yesterday with the heatwave being blamed for deaths in Hungary and Romania, power cuts in Macedonia and forest fires from Serbia to Greece.

Up to 500 people have died in Hungary because of the heatwave with deaths attributed to heatstroke, cardiovascular problems and other illnesses aggravated by high temperatures which reached a record high of 41.9C (107F) in the southern city of Kiskunhalas.

Countries across the Balkan peninsula also laboured under temperatures that hit a historic 43C in Belgrade and 44C in Bulgaria. In an urgent announcement, Greece's weather service predicted temperatures of 45C (113F) and the government urged people to restrict their movements and stay indoors.

Associated Press:

Emergency workers rescued hundreds of trapped people Monday as water swallowed swaths of central England in the worst flooding to hit the country for 60 years. Officials said some rivers were still rising, with the western section of the rain-swollen River Thames on the verge of bursting its banks.

Roads and parking lots were submerged, trains suspended, buses canceled. Hundreds of thousands of people were without electricity or drinking water, and farmers saw their summer crops destroyed.

Torrential rains have plagued Britain over the past month — nearly 5 inches fell in some areas on Friday alone — and more downpours were predicted this week.

Not that the climate is changing, or anything.

Knossos

Criticized by some as over-restored, the Minoan palace was built in the Bronze Age, around 1600 BCE, and represents the earliest known high civlization in Europe. Minoan art was more colorful, realistic, and playful than any previously known; and there is no evidence of war or other conflicts between different Minoan towns. Minoan civilization is thought to have been largely destroyed by the eruption of the volcano that has made Santorini such a dramatic caldera island.

Lions Gate, Ancient Mycenae

If there was an Agamemnon, this is where he lived.

Fira, Santorini

Delphi