According to a decision made by the Greek Ministry of Culture, the majority of Greek archaeological sites, museums and exhibitions will change their hours of operation between January 7 and February 28, 2019.

The decision, which was published in the Greek government’s Gazette on December 24, 2018, announced that there will be special wintertime hours of operation between January 7 and February 28. Most museums, historical exhibits, and archaeological sites throughout the country will operate between the hours of 08:30 and 15:30.

Major Greek archaeological sites which attract thousands of visitors throughout the year, such as the Acropolis in Athens, Knossos in Crete and the ancient theater of Epidauros in the Peloponnese, will be open for longer hours. These sites will remain open at their regular summer hours, between 08:00 and 17:00 every day.

The National Archaeological Museum, the archaeological museum of Heraklion, and the Archaeological and Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki, which attract throngs of visitors year-round, also will be open these hours, seven days a week.

This also holds true for the ancient site of Sounio and the site of ancient Olympia, which will have these same hors of operation all week long.

From January 7 onward, more sites will be operating on a seven-day-per-week basis, including the Acropolis of Lindos in Rhodes, the old fortress of Corfu, Akrotiri in Santorini and Apteras in Chania.

These sites were added to the list of those open seven days a week, with expanded hours of operation, due to increased tourist visits to these areas.

The rest of the sites in Greece will operate on a six-day-per-week basis, with the closed day changing from Monday to Tuesday from January 7, 2019 onward.

This most recent decision was made because of the increasingly popular practice across Europe of taking “long weekends” and city-breaks which tend to be three-day mini-vacations.

Source: Nick Kampouris/greekreporter