'Hellishly Hot' Southern Europe Bakes Under High Temperatures

The Italian health ministry placed 12 cities under the most severe heat warning Tuesday as a wave of hot air from Africa baked southern Europe and the Balkans and sent temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), with the worst still to come.
Croatia reported the highest-ever temperatures of the Adriatic Sea, with the thermometer reaching nearly 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) at the southern walled city of Dubrovnik, the country’s most popular tourism spot. In Serbia, the state power company reported record consumption Tuesday due to the use of air conditioning.
Municipal authorities in several southern European and Balkan cities took measures to look after elderly people in particular as civil protection crews fielded calls for water-dropping aircraft such as Canadairs to douse wildfires that raged in southern Italy and North Macedonia, The Associated Press reported.
“It’s hellishly hot," said Carmen Díaz, a tourist from Madrid who was trying to keep cool with a fan at lunchtime in Rome. "These fans help a little too, but it’s really hot.”
In Greece, municipalities made air conditioned spaces available to the public. Certain forms of outdoor work were banned, such as manual labor, deliveries and construction, during the hottest time of the day when temperatures reached 40 C.
Temperatures were expected to hit 42 C on Wednesday and Thursday in several countries. Spain’s national weather service said thermometers could reach 44 C in the southern Guadalquivir river basin in the coming days.
To beat the heat, Rome’s zoo made plans to offer popsicle respite for the animals later this week when temperatures were expected to top 38 C.
In Albania, where temperatures were expected to hit 42 C, a 72-year-old man was found dead at his farm in Memaliaj, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital Tirana and the cause of the death is believed to be the heat, the local Panorama portal reported. There was no immediate confirmation by health authorities.
In Tirana itself, streets and cafes seemed almost empty, with the few people out and about using umbrellas to shade themselves. High temperatures and winds were fanning wildfires from the south to the north in recent weeks.
Even with temperatures a comparatively cool 34 C, the Istanbul municipality issued a heat warning on Tuesday advising residents — especially the elderly, pregnant women, children, and those with health issues — to avoid going out between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The advisory said temperatures in Istanbul were expected to remain between 3 to 6 degrees above seasonal norms until July 28 and advised residents to drink plenty of fluids and opt for light or cotton clothing.
“It’s usually windy here, like natural air conditioning, so we always come here to cool off," said Sami Gunaydin, a 62-year-old pensioner who was swimming in the Bosporus on Tuesday. "May God help those who have no air conditioning.”
For the second time this month, North Macedonia faced a heatwave with temperatures going up to 42 C. Some 200 wildfires have been raging in the country since the beginning of the month, with one firefighter so far injured. The government has declared a monthlong state of crisis.
For Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia, it's the second week that temperatures have been hovering around 40 C, with the Bosnian town of Mostar registering that high for the sixth consecutive day. Meteorologists said the heat wave was expected to peak on Tuesday and slowly ease toward the end of the week.
Romania and neighboring Moldova have also been gripped by an intense heatwave over the past week, with temperatures in both country’s capitals, Bucharest and Chisinau respectively, exceeding 40 C this week.
In Italy, the civil protection service reported it received 18 calls for help Monday to douse wildfires that raged in several southern regions.
The health ministry placed 12 cities – from Trieste in the north to Rome in the center – under a red alert heat warning, the highest state of heat emergency. In cities under such warnings, everyone — not just the elderly or young children — is urged to stay indoors during the hottest parts of the day and avoid strenuous outdoor exercise and heavy foods.
Palermo, Sicily was expected to join the list of red-bulletin cities on Wednesday, the health ministry said.
Much of Greece was also sweltering in a heat wave due to last until the end of the week, with temperatures in some areas forecast to reach 42 C. The heat wave was predicted to peak on Wednesday and Thursday, particularly affecting regions of central, western and northern Greece, where temperatures could rise to 43 C.
The brutal heat wave hitting southern Europe has so far spared Paris, which is set to host the Olympics later this month. Temperatures were a comparatively chilly 22 C on Tuesday, though they were expected to rise later in the week only to fall again after the weekend.

For years, Tunisians have been picking bright red peppers, combining them with garlic, vinegar and spices and turning them into a saucy spread called harissa. The condiment is a national staple and pastime, found in homes, restaurants and food stalls throughout the coastal North African nation.

Brick-red, spicy and tangy, it can be scooped up on bread drizzled with olive oil or dabbed onto plates of eggs, fish, stews or sandwiches. Harissa can be sprinkled atop merguez sausages, smeared on savory pastries called brik or sandwiches called fricassées, The Associated Press reported.
In Nabeul, the largest city in Tunisia’s harissa-producing Cap Bon region, local chef and harissa specialist Chahida Boufayed called it “essential to Tunisian cuisine.”
“Harissa is a love story,” she said at a festival held in honor of the chili paste sauce in the northeastern Tunisian city of Nabeul earlier this month. “I don’t make it for the money.”
Aficionados from across Tunisia and the world converged on the 43-year-old mother’s stand to try her recipe. Surrounded by strings of drying baklouti red peppers, she described how she grows her vegetables and blends them with spices to make harissa.
The region’s annual harissa festival has grown in the two-plus years since the United Nations cultural organization, UNESCO, recognized the sauce on a list of items of intangible cultural heritage, said Zouheir Belamin, the president of the association behind the event, a Nabeul-based preservation group. He said its growing prominence worldwide was attracting new tourists to Tunisia, specifically to Nabeul.
UNESCO in 2022 called harissa an integral part of domestic provisions and the daily culinary and food traditions of Tunisian society, adding it to a list of traditions and practices that mark intangible cultural heritage.
Already popular across North Africa as well as in France, the condiment is gaining popularity throughout the world from the United States to China.
Seen as sriracha’s North African cousin, harissa is typically prepared by women who sun-dry harvested red peppers and then deseed, wash and ground them. Its name comes from “haras” – the Arabic verb for “to crush” – because of the next stage in the process.
The finished peppers are combined it with a mixture of garlic cloves, vinegar, salt, olive oil and spices in a mortar and pestle to make a fragrant blend. Variants on display at Nabeul’s Jan. 3-5 festival used cumin, coriander and different spice blends or types of peppers, including smoked ones, to create pastes ranging in color from burgundy to crimson.
“Making harissa is an art. If you master it, you can create wonders,” Boufayed said.

'Hellishly Hot' Southern Europe Bakes Under High Temperatures