City starts to empty as Holy Week begins

Stavros Polychronidis, 53, arranges church candles at a factory in Lavrio, near Athens. Monday marked the start of Holy Week, leading to Greek Orthodox Easter on Sunday. With Monday’s public holiday coming just before Labor Day on May 1 (Wednesday), a lot of Greek workers have arranged to take time off for vacations, as schools will remain closed until May 6 too. Traffic was noticeably lighter in downtown Athens as a result even on Monday and is expected to thin out even further as the week progresses. [Costas Baltas/Reuters]