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| THE BEACH SIDE PROMENADE
IN THESSALONIKI |
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 our home page |
Thessaloniki is Greece's second largest city with just over 1.1 million inhabitants. It was an important metropolis during the Roman period, and was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. The city was founded around 315 BC by King Cassander of Macedon, and is named after the half-sister of Alexander the Great. The region in which the city is located is called Macedonia which is directly involved in the dispute between Greece and the newly named country of "North Macedonia" which is one of the countries which used to be part of Yugoslavia. | |||||
| After the fall of the Kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, the city came under the rule of the Romans, followed by the Byzantines in the 4th century and the Ottomans in the 13th century. During the rule of the Romans, around the year 50 A.C.E, while on his second missionary journey, Paul the Apostle visited the area and sowed the seeds for Thessaloniki's first Christian church. |  SWEETS IN THE SWEET CITY |
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 IN ONE OF THE MAIN CITY MARKETS |
The city was noted for its large Jewish community and good relations between the Jewish and Christian communities. During the 19th century and into the first half of the 20th, the city's population of 150,000 was almost half Jewish, making them the biggest ethnic group in the city by far. Up until the early 1900s, the city was nicknamed Evraioupolis, which means City of Hebrews in Greek. The Jewish community of Thessaloniki was vibrant and had a rich history in the region. Unfortunately this all came to an end when the Nazi war machine arrived in the 1940's and the region's Jewish population was decimated. Here is an article called "We are still Here" about the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, both past and present. | |||||
| One of the city's nicknames is
the City of Ghosts,
which relates to the various layers of history, and in particular, the
once vibrant Jewish community. We took an interesting walking tour
called "The City of Ghosts", which is described below, along with
everything else we did while in Thessaloniki. |
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| While in
Thessaloniki, we stayed at the Electra Palace Hotel.
This is a wonderful hotel in the absolutely most central part of the
city. It’s an “old fashioned” hotel but I mean that in a good sense.
The rooms have all been modernized, and the room we had was decent
sized, although there was a definite lack of storage space for clothes.
The hotel is planning another major renovation in January, 2020. The
staff was very professional and helpful. |
 BEAKFAST AT ELECTRA PALACE |
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 THE VIEW FROM THE HOTEL |
As noted above, the location of this hotel is absolutely perfect. It's right on Aristotle Square, which is the center of activities for tourists, a few steps from the sea, and surrounded by shopping and restaurants. Breakfast was excellent, and the setting is in the hotel restaurant on the top floor. The view is amazing, and eating here was a real pleasure. The food was good, but the highlight here is the view which comes with breakfast. The view can be seen to the left and above to the right. | |||||
 THE ARCH OF GALERIUS |
Free walking tours are quite popular in Thessaloniki, and there are several guides and itineraries to choose from. The tour is free, usually lasts about 2 hours, and in the end, you give whatever tip you deem suitable. We decided on the tour called "The City of Ghosts", as it concentrated on Jewish Thessaloniki, and it was at a convenient time and day for us. The web site is called "Freetour.com", and the guide's name is Konstantinos Digkas. |  CARVINGS ON THE ARCH |
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 OUR GUIDE COSTAS |
Costas (the
short form of his name) is a delightful guide and is an
expert on the history of Thessaloniki. We were only 2 couples (both
from Israel), and our 2 hour tour easily became a 3 hour tour.
Costas took us all over the city, showing us the temple complex of
Galerius, the former Jewish quarter, the main markets, and even the
only active synagogue in the city (which was closed). Costas showed us
lots of interesting things, like the building in the picture to the
right - built within and incongrously part of an active archeological
site. |
 OLD AND NEW BLENDED ARCHITECTURE |
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 THE ENTRANCE TO THE FORTRESS |
The most historical part of Thessaloniki is called Ana Poli, literally, the upper city of Thesaloniki. It is up, and it is a difficult climb up to get to the main points of interest, such as the fortress, several historical churches, and the Vlatadon Monastery. The best way to visit is to take a bus or taxi up to the fortress and then walk down. We hired a taxi for 3 hours, and our driver Stratos, took us on a lovely tour of Ana Poli and parts of Thessaloniki. |  COLUMNS IN THE FORTRESS |
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 THE VIEW OF THESSALONIKI FROM ANA POLI |
Stratos took us to the Roman forum in the center of Thessaloniki. The forum is an incredible archeological site, exposing a significant Roman city. He also took us to a very nice wine and spirits store to buy "tsipouro", the national liquor of Greece. It's like ouzo, but without the anis. Stratos also took us to the airport, and he proved to be a friendly and reliable driver, who spoke very nice English and explained lots of things to us. |  THE ROMAN FORUM |
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| While in Thessaloniki, we also went to 2 films which were part of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. This was the 60th annual festival and the films are screened at several different venues within the city, all within walking distance of our hotel. Several of the venues are within the port area, and 2 of the theatres are right at Aristotle Square, meaning, just a few steps from our hotel. We selected 2 films which were screened at the theatres at Aristotle square, and which we thoroughly enjoyed. | ||||||
| We've
been
to several international film festivals, including the one in our home
town of Haifa, which we attend almost every year. The Thessaloniki
festival
was well organized with a wide selection of films, although there was
one aspect which surprised us. There were no assigned seats for the
screenings. It was "first come, first served", and in order to get good
seats, you had to arrive early (and use your elbows). |
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 MONUMENT TO SAINT PAUL IN VERIA |
On one of
the days we were in Thessaloniki, we took a day trip to Veria with a
company called Ammon Express. Ammon
offers a variety of daytrips, and we selected the trip to Veria, as
this town has a long history, and the trip included a visit to Veria's restored synagogue, and a
tasting at a winery located near Veria. We were the only guests on the
tour, so we drove in a private car, and our driver was our guide. |
beautiful veria veria & the jewish community |
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 BACK STREETS OF VERIA |
Our
driver/guide's name was Aimilios, and he is an archeologist by
education, and a guide by vocation (and for making a living). He was
full of information
and we had a very nice day with him. We strolled around Veria,
a small
city of about 50,000 residents, visited the Jewish quarter of Barbouta,
and the rebuilt synagogue. During the Byzantine period, Veria was known
as "Little
Jerusalem". After Veria, we went for lunch, visited a Macedonian
tomb, and then a
wine tasting at the Kir-Yianni winery. |
 JEWISH QUARTER OF BARBOUTA |
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The visit to the Veria synagogue
was the highlight of our visit to Veria. This synagogue is a reminder
of the once vibrant Jewish community of Veria, which was destroyed by
the Nazis during the second World War. The synagogue has been
beautifully restored and is looked after by a local woman called Evi
Meska. Evi has taken on the restoration of the synagogue and the
surrounding Jewish quarter of Barbouta, as a personal life project. Our guide called her on the phone to tell her that we were on the way, and she came (by taxi!) to meet us at the synagogue and tell us all about it. The synagogue is a moving experience, and Evi is a figure to be admired. Her goal right now is to establish a Jewish museum near the synagogue. |
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 TASTING AT KIR YIANNI WINERY |
We had a lovely wine tasting the
Kir-Yianni Winery
located not far from Veria. It's a beautiful winery. The surrounding
area is lovely and the tasting was friendly and professional. As in all
the wineries we have visited in Greece, we enjoyed the whites and the
rosé more than the reds. We bought a bottle of rosé to take home. |
 SCENERY AT KIR IANNI WINERY |
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| On the
way to the winery, we visited an impressive Macedonian tomb, called the
"Tomb of Judgment",
located near the town of Lefkadia. It's one of the best preserved tombs
in the area, which is quite full of Macedonian tombs. Two of the most
famous sites in Greece are located in this area - Vergina and Pella.
Ammon (and all the other tour companies) offers tours to these sites,
but we wanted to visit Veria because of its Jewish history. We will
save Vergina and Pella for our next trip to this area. |
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 THE TOMB OF JUDGMENT |
In
any case, our guide Aimilios
(the archeologist) seemed very moved by the visit to this tomb, and he
explained to us its history, who was buried there, and how and why it
is so special. The tomb is impressive, but it is not nearly as widely
known or visited as Vergina and Pella, as there is lots more to see at
the
latter sites. Actually, that's an attraction at this tomb. It's not
overrun with visitors and a visit takes about 15 minutes. |
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| GRADA NUEVO |
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 SARDINES AT GRADA NUEVO |
This
was the best restaurant we ate in while in Thessaloniki, and we ate
here twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. The restaurant is
beautiful. We met the owner and his wife Ileni, who is the head chef. I
ordered a dish of clams and scallops prepared in the shell as ceviche.
It was quite unique and different, and delicious. I think this was the
standout dish of our 2 meals here. All the dishes we ordered were
excellent and with high quality presentation. |
 CLAMS AND SCALLOPS CEVICHE STYLE |
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| 7 THESSALI |
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 LOVELY 7 THESSALI |
7
Thessali is a lovely restaurant, and most of the dishes were excellent.
Unfortunately, one we had to send back. It was listed as fresh
marinated sardines, but the sardines seemed to be straight from the
can. Very disappointing. It was replaced by the fish soup which
was far better. My sea bass ceviche and the seafood risotto were
excellent. Except for the sardines, we had a lovely meal here. |
 SEAFOOD RISOTTO AT 7 THESSALI |
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| PLAISIR |
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 AT PLAISIR CAFE |
Plaisir
is a café serving a menu of light food, and lots and lots of beautiful
desserts and cakes of all kinds. We had a light meal here, and it was
just fine. It is located right on Aristole Square, and is connected,
but not part of the Electra Palace hotel, where we were staying. |
 THE SPECIALTY AT PLAISIR CAFE |
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 PARADASIOKO |
PARADASIOKO |
 PARADASIOKO |
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| We had
lunch here as part of the tour we took to Veria. It's a typical Greek
Taverna, and it's located in the center of the village of Naousa, which
is about 20 KM from Veria. The name means "traditional" in Greek. The
food was fresh and tasty. |
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| BLACKLIME |
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| Black Lime
is a light fare restaurant located within a department store in a
shopping center very near Aristotle Square in Thessaloniki. The service
was friendly and fast and the salad we had was very tasty. It’s a good
place for a light meal. |
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| MAREA SEA SPIRIT |
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 MAREA SEA SPIRIT |
This is a
lovely restaurant, and we had a lovely meal here. Alisa had marinated
sardines, and saganaki shrimps. I had smoked mackerel, and herb
encrusted gilthead seabream, which was the best dish of the meal. The
restaurant is just a few steps from the seafront, not far from the
white tower. While we were there, the street toward the seafront was
all torn up due to renovation. |
 DELICIOUS MARINATED SARDINES |
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| FRUTTI
Di MARI |
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 AT FRUTTI DI MARI |
This
restaurant doesn’t look like much, but we had a lovely meal here. It
was for lunch and our last meal before flying home. It was a “fun”
restaurant, as Demetrius, our host (he does everything except cook in
the kitchen) was both entertaining and welcoming. We had delicious
salad with squid, a pasta dish, and sea bass with perfect fries.
Everything was delicious. |
 EXCELLENT SEA BASS AND FRIES |
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| VISIT GREECE |
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| THE
OFFICIAL TRAVEL GUIDE OF THESSALONIKI |
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| GREECE
TRAVEL ON THESSALONIKI |
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| 10 AWESOME REASONS TO VISIT THESSALONIKI |
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| THINGS TO DO IN THESSALONIKI BY "LIKEALOCAL |
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| THE BEST DAY TRIPS FROM THESSALONIKI |
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| THE BEST WALKS IN THESSALONIKI |
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| ALL ABOUT HALKIDIKI (seaside peninsula near Thessaloniki) |
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| THE BEST BEACHES OF HALKIDIKI |
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This is a page from our site "Travels with Steve & Alisa". It describes one of the many trips we have made together. We've built these pages not just to describe our trips, but to help other travelers if we can. Please use the information we've provided freely, and let us know if you have any questions we might be able to answer about your own planned trip, or just let us know if we have helped you. Or perhaps you have some information we could add to the site. Visit our home page using the link to the right. Enjoy
your next
trip!!
~Steve & Alisa~
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