Europe's winter woes

Planes were grounded at Athens airport

		By the BBC's Paul Wood

South-eastern Europe is suffering its worst winter for decades.

Tourists visiting Athens have some rare shots for their holiday albums - snow settling around the Acropolis and on the palm trees in the centre of the city.

The authorities have declared a state of civil emergency in what the Prime Minister, Costas Simitis, has described as the worst cold weather in almost 40 years.

Athens is not used to this kind of weather

Athenians are simply not used to coping with this kind of weather.

A 70-year-old woman died in the city after she apparently got lost in the snow and was unable to find her way home.

There are not enough ploughs to clear the metre-high drifts in the northern suburbs of the capital, and at the international airport more than three-quarters of all flights were cancelled over the past two days - and none at all left on Sunday morning.

The main north-south highway in Greece is impassable because of drifts and some motorists were trapped in their cars overnight.

Even ferry services to some of the islands were disrupted, with the maritime authorities stopping ships from setting out.

Bulgaria and Turkey, where four men were found frozen to death in separate incidents, are also suffering unusually cold weather.

In Italy, the Venice lagoon is frozen over for the first time in 17 years. The city's traditional gondolas are immovable in the ice.