Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me, Simon Calder. It's Monday the 28th of July.

Well, it will be when you're listening to this. In fact, it's exactly 7.30pm on Sunday when I am recording this.

And that's relevant because even at this time of the evening I'm overlooking the

harbour in beautiful Mitilini in the Greek island of Lesbos. It is baking.

We have seen over the weekend more wildfires in Greece in particular via. Very few tourists affected by that,

of course, absolutely devastating for the local community. And for the third summer in a row,

we have extreme heat causing chaos in some parts of Greece. There's also concern about the hot dry conditions

fueling pretty much everywhere in the southern half of mainland Greece,

plus the whole of the island of Crete is at the second most alert stage,

so lots of worries there. In addition, there are many people who

are being affected while they are on holiday. For example, the Acropolis closed for five hours

on Sunday afternoon, quote, due to high temperatures for the safety of employees and visitors.

And the cruise ship explorer 1 has actually cancelled a planned excursion on Monday

for the island of Paros because of extreme heat.

Worth saying that even if you are not troubled by a wildfire,

that heat can be a really serious problem because of, well, high temperatures leading to health

risks amongst the elderly and very young, according to the Greek Weather Service.

I've checked and the NHS warns that excessive heat is extremely dangerous for children under five,

and people aged 65 or over, as well as anyone with an underlying health conditions such as heart and breathing problems or diabetes.

The advice avoid outdoor activities. Keep well hydrated. Stay in an air-conditioned room.

That might not be everybody's idea of a great holiday. Because of the concerns about wildfires, the

foreign office actually earlier this month stepped up its warning for British travellers to Greece,

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