I checked the climate of Greece before we left on vacation and found that June is supposed to be very pleasant; apparently it only gets hot there in July and August. Imagine my consternation when we stepped off the plane into an oven—hot and getting hotter. It was not only hot, it was somewhat hellish and it only got worse as the week progressed. 41 degrees C … 43 … 45 … 46 … until it topped out at 48 degrees C.

Ah, I thought, perhaps “hot” is a relative term. Maybe the temperature is 50 or 60 in July and August, which would make a mere 48 seem balmy in comparison, right?

In conversation with Athenians, though, after learning we traipsed up to the Akropolis in 46-degree-Celsius heat, they could only asked “why?” Turns out the heat of last week was a fluke; June in Athens really IS balmy. Only right before we flew in, there blew in from Africa this hot wind that the Greeks affectionately call “the Libyan Express”. They say it comes along every ten to 20 years and shoots the temperatures way, way up. Turns out we were lucky enough to book our vacation during the hottest week in 25 years. After about five days of the freakish heat, the wind blew on past and the temperature dropped into their usual pleasant June weather.

Go figure.