Warm weather lured crowds to beaches and parks on Sunday, despite the coronavirus lockdown in Greece.
Temperatures reached 21°C in Athens, while temperatures also soared in Crete to 26°C.
Police were forced to patrol the beaches and parks to monitor social distancing and crowd numbers.
In Athens, lots of people enjoyed the warm weather in Glyfada, Vouliagmeni and Alimos.
According to the National Observatory of Athens, in the last 50 years, such high temperatures for January have been seen only twice: in 1987 and 2010.
"It is not normal. This time last year it was cold," Kyriakos Pitoulis told Reuters.
"On the other hand, it helps because people are cooped up at home and they want to go somewhere to let off steam. They cannot stay home all the time."
Greece extends lockdown past two months
On Friday, Greek Civil Protection Deputy Minister announced lockdown measures will be extended for another week.
The lockdown will now end on Monday, January 18, 2021.
The operation of click away services for retail stores, bookstores and hairdressers remain suspended, other business activities are suspended as before.
SMS 13033 for movement
All individuals residing in Greece will be required to send an SMS text message to 13033 in order to obtain permission to leave their homes during the lockdown.
The SMS to 13033 should be formatted as follows: X (one of the digits 1-6 corresponding to the activities below), name, surname and address.
The six reasons (you must SMS) are:
- Visit to a pharmacy or visit to a doctor if necessary
- Visit to a supermarket or stores for essential supplies
- Visit to a bank if e-banking transactions are not possible
- Visit to people needing assistance or escorting children to and from school
- Attending a funeral, as per the conditions provided by the law, or visiting children in case of divorced parents
- Physical exercise outdoors or up to two persons taking their pet for a walk while always observing a 1.5-metre distance.
Currently, the country is under a curfew from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM, and only those who are going to or from work or have an emergency have permission to break it.
