Italian shops, restaurants and churches reopened their doors to the spring sun on Monday, Greece welcomed visitors back to the Acropolis, and Spain hoped for tourists to return in summer in cautious steps to ease coronavirus lockdowns.
TOURISTS WERE ALLOWED BACK AT ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES IN GREECE
Italians could once again sip their morning cappuccino at the bar, albeit at a distance from one another, in what Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte admitted at the weekend was a “calculated risk” in rolling back the curbs.
In Greece, which has recorded only 156 coronavirus deaths, people flocked to the seaside on Saturday and were allowed back in church the next day.
On Monday, tourists were allowed back at archeological sites, including the Acropolis in Athens, where workers wearing masks and plastic face shields reminded the few visitors of social distancing rules as they entered the turnstiles.
Spain aims to reopen its borders to tourists around the end of June, Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos said on Monday, after it surprised its EU partners by imposing a two-week quarantine on all overseas travellers and effectively shutting its borders last week.
Many people across England travelled to parks and beaches to enjoy the sun at the weekend after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson relaxed lockdown curbs.