One Irish tourist felt “unable to breathe” while on holidays in North Italy due to extreme temperatures. 

The Pat Kenny Show spoke to people who happened to book their holidays during one of the biggest heatwaves ever seen in Southern Europe. 

Speaking from Kos in Greece, 98FM Presenter Suzanne Kane said she felt like a “fraud” describing the hot weather to Irish people. 

“It feels terrible to ring home when they're miserable and it's freezing cold,” she said. “[But] I don’t think I’ve experienced anything as hot as part of last weekend.”

Ms Kane said one day at 10am, she was leaving her apartment to get breakfast and it was already 37C and rising. 

“By 12pm, it was 42C,” she said. 

Power outage

The temperatures rose so high that the area experienced a power outage, according to Ms Kane. 

“That’s really common over here, apparently, with extreme temperatures,” she said. “It took two or three hours for us to get any power back.” 

Ms Kane said staff in the area have been “amazing” in accommodating tourists – but they can’t control the temperature. 

Harbour in Kos Town, Kos, Greece. Image: Rick Strange / Alamy Stock Photo

“All the baby pools were covered with shades, but you just couldn’t stand out in that level of heat,” she said. 

“I’m coming home whiter than when I arrived,” she said.  

She said tourists are able to escape the heat to airconditioned rooms, but many locals can’t.  

“For people living in the middle of the villages, they don't necessarily have air conditioning,” she said. 

'They move to avoid heat'

Irish Times Health Editor Paul Cullen spoke to the show from a campsite in North Italy, saying many houses in the area were designed to be “naturally cool”. 

“You keep the shutters or curtains closed wherever the sun is shining right through the day,” he said. “The house is very dark in the middle of the day.

"You also move around the house according to where the sun is to avoid the heat.” 

Irish bodies

Mr Cullen said Irish people are truly not prepared to handle such high temperatures. 

“In the middle of the night I woke up with a slight sense of terror, feeling unable to breathe because it was so hot.” 

Despite that Mr Cullen said he doesn’t expect any sympathy and said adapting to Mediterranean habits makes it more bearable. 

“It's about getting up early, making the most of the morning, and then going for a siesta,” he said. 

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Main image: Woman with a brochure in her head trying to protect herself from the sun. Image via Konstantinos Tsakalidis / Alamy Stock Photo