Thessaloniki part 2-sightseeing (continued)

To finish the posts regarding sightseeing in Thessaloniki I will introduce you to the Upper Town (or Ano Poli in Greek ). This is the part of the city where I grew up and it's my favorite. This part of the city is totally different and is characterised by narrow streets, old houses and gardens. There are a lot of small squares where children play, people are just relaxing having a coffee. At some parts of Ano Poli there are tavernas with delicious food and traditional cafes, called 'kafenia'. You can easily get lost in the narrow street and you can catch some of the best views of the city. The Upper Town contains many of the city's most historical sights. The city walls and towers are intergral part of the Upper city and religious structures, like the Church of Osios David and Saint Aikaterini and the Vlatades Monastery worth the time to visit.

That is some of the sights that I would suggest to visit in Thessaloniki. I will post soon some more practical information about transportation in Thessaloniki and food (!!!!).

I found this article in the online version of New York Times about Thessaloniki. I think it's a more objective view than mine and can give you an idea about the city.

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/17/magazine/uncovering-history-layer-upon-layer-in-salonika.html

Thessaloniki-Part 2 Sightseeing (continued)

I will continue a previous post for places you could visit in Thessaloniki.

Finishing with churches you could visit in Thessaloniki I shouldn't forget to mension Panagia Acheiropoietos. It was build in the 5th-century and is the only church from Thessaloniki's early Christian days to have survived pretty much intact, without the restorations and renovations that have changed the characters of Ayia Sofia and Ayios Dimitrios. There are mosaics of floral and vine motifs interspersed with birds and 13th-century frescoes showing some of the 40 Martyrs. The missing martyrs were probably obliterated when the church was converted to a mosque in the 15th century after Salonika fell to the Turks.

But appart from museums, archeological sites and churches there more relaxing things you could do and visit in Thessaloniki. Probably one of the most famous landmarks of the city is the waterfront, with Nikis Avenue being a particularly famous promenade here, stretching along the waterfront and heading in an east-west direction, between the port and the White Tower. Nikis avenue is lined with an enormous number of bars, restaurants and cafes and it lines the city's main square, Aristotle square.

Aristotelous Square is probably the largest square in Greece and appears rather like a bottle in its shape, as opposed to an actual square. This area is the heart of the city, and all big events are happening here. There are plenty of open cafes and restaurants that you can visit (however the prices in Aristotle square and in Nikis avenue are very expensive; for example a coffee is around 6 euros, a beer is 7-8 euros (330ml!) and a glass of whiskey is 9 to 12 euros!!)

A block away from Aristotle square is Modiano market. The roofed market was built in 1922 by the wealthy Jewish merchant Eli Modiano, whose handsome family mansion (at 68 Vas. Sophias) is now the home of the Folklore and Ethnography Museum of Macedonia. You can easily spend a morning in the glass roofed market that covers an entire square block and happily wandering from stall to stall admiring the fish, meat, fruit, vegetables, flowers, spices, and baked goods on sale. If you get hungry you could get a bite one of the small tavernas that are based in the maarket (Unlike Aristotle square and Nikis, food and drinks are quite cheap in other areas of the city). Next to Modiano are many flower shops that give a special colour to the area, and the Turkish old baths Giahoudi Hamam.

If you like shopping the major shopping district of Thessaloniki are Tsimiski, Venizelou, Agias Sofias, Ermou, Mitropoleos, Egnatia and M. Iossif St. All these streets are in the centre of the city and in a couple of hours you can walk around them (taking your time of course).

That's for today. I will update the sights of Thessaloniki section again because I have quite a few more to list. Here is a link with the position on the map of some of the sights I listed (unfortunately it crashed halfway and couldn't list everything-I will do this soon).

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=109377790766201484878.0004679fdf63b844b527f&ll=40.639423,22.943702&spn=0.015468,0.038624&t=h&z=15

The Parthenon

One of the world's most famous buildings, this temple was begun in 447 BC. It was designed by the architects Kallikrates and Iktinos, primarily to houe the 12m (40 ft) high statue of Athena Parthenons (Maiden), sculpted by Pheidias. Taking nine years to complete, the temple was dedicated to the goddess in 438 BC. Over the centuries, it has been used as a church, a mosque and an arsenal, and has suffered severe damage. Built as an expression of the glory of ancient Athens, it remains the city emblem to date.

Vergina-Ancient Greek sights close to Thessaloniki

Northern Greece offers varied pleasures. The bustle of modern Thessaloniki can be combined with a beach holiday in Chalkidiki, or with an exploration of some of the ancient Macedonian sites. Today, I am going to introduce everybody about Vergina located in the prefecture of Imathia.

Outside the village of Vergina, during excavatios in 1977, archaelogist Professor Manolis Andronikos found an entrance to a tomb. The bones inside included a skull with one eye socket damaged, evidence that the tomb belonged to King Philip II of Macedon, who received such a wound in the siege of Methoni. The bones were discovered in a stunning gold funerary box, embellished with the symbol of the Macedonian Sun (see the centre image). The discovery confirmed that this area was the site of Aigai, the first capital of Macedon. The finds from this tomb, as well as several other Royal Tombs nearby, included many more gold objects as well as other items. They are now on display here and are considered the most important Greece since Schliemann's discoveries at Mycenae.

A short walk further along the road from Philip's tomb are some earlier discoveries, known as the Macedonian Tombs. The dark interior hides splendid solid marble doors, as well as beautiful marble throne.

If anybody has spare time, this spot is a must-go attraction.

Thats for today. I will post more information sometime next week.

Thessaloniki: Part 2-Sightseeing

Hi again and sorry for the late update of the blog

In this post I will suggest a few sights that you could visit in Thessaloniki. I realized in this blog that is quite difficult to be a travel guide for a city that I lived most of my life! For me most of the sights are so common now that I considere them as just meeting points. In addition I feel quite sad because I realize that the local authorities of Thessaloniki have done very little to promote the city.

The city’s landmark is the White Tower (photo), which also houses a Byzantine museum. This is a 15th century circular tower built by the Ottomans to form part of the shore defense system, which was dismantled during the 19th century. The Ottomans used it as a jail and execution site which is why it was know as the "tower of blood" or "red tower". When Thessaloniki was liberated by the Greek army the tower was whitewashed as a symbolic gesture of cleansing, and acquired its present name. The museum of the white tower contains findings which present the history and art of Byzantine Thessaloniki covering the period between 300 and 1430 A.D.

The archeological museum of Thessaloniki exibits finds from all over Northern Greece and in particular: Prehistoric finds from all over Macedonia and Thrace, and finds belonging to the Geometric Age from the Vergina burial ground. Archaic and Classical Age sculptures from ancient Thermi and from other parts of Macedonia. There is also a collection of finds from excavations on the site of ancient Olynthos. A series of Roman sculptures which is one of the richest collections of the 1st to the 5th century A.D. A collection of sarcophagi and glass Roman vases as well as some mosaic floors, discovered during excavations at Thessaloniki. Noteworthy are the finds from 4th century BC tombs and Derveni ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derveni_krater ).

The museum of Byzantine culture ( http://www.mbp.gr/html/en/index.htm ). It's probably the most important museum of Thessaloniki. It houses 2900 artifacts very cleverly presented. I would suggested because the byzantine period is very higly linked to the history of Thessaloniki.

The Arch of Galerius and the Tomb of Galerius are neighboring monument tha are located in Egnatia Street in the centre of the city. The Tomb of Galerius is better known as Rotonda. The arch was built in 298 A.D. and dedicated in 303 A.D. to celebrate the victory of the tetrarch Galerius over the Sassanids Persians. The Rotonda is a circular building erected in 306 A.D. as the Pantheon of Mausoleum of Galerius. Over the years it had various uses (church, museum). Its mosaics are unique for the era.
Due to the importance of the Thessaloniki in the byzantine period it is full of byzantine churches. The most important ones are Hagia (Saint) Sophia and Hagios (Saint) Dimitrios. Hagia Sophia was built in the 8th century and was inspired by the 6th century Hagia Sophia of Costantinople. Hagios Dimitrios is the patron saint of Thessaloniki. Like Saint Sophia the church of Saint Dimitrios was heavily restored, actually almost rebuild after the fire of 1917 which destroyed a large part of the city. Consequantly, even though Saint Dimitrios church has a unique place in the mind of the people of Thessaloniki, most of its artwork are restorations. However the history of Saint Dimitrios is quite interesting ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Demetrius_of_Thessaloniki) and is the favorite saint of most Thessalonians!

I will stop this post now (very late and I am working tomorrow) but will continue it tomorrow! Still quite many sights to cover!

Thessaloniki: Part 1 -History and trivia

Hi there again

In this post I will give some information about Thessaloniki. Most people that visit Greece will not probably visit Thessaloniki. This is not because it's not a beautiful city but because the Greek tourist board has as a standard policy to promote specific parts of Greece i.e Athens and the islands. Thessaloniki is the second largest city of Greece, with a population of around 1 million (the municipality of Thessaloniki has a population of 363,987) and is the capital of the Macedonia district of northern Greece. It was first established in 316B.C. by Kassandros and named after his wife, half sister of Alexander the great. Thessaloniki means victory (niki or nike-yes even this is a Greek word!) in Thessaly (in Central Greece). It was a very important city especially during the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods. Apostle Paul visits Thessaloniki in 50AD and writes 2 letters to the Thessalonians. In Byzantine periods it was the second most important city next to Constantinople and is full with beautiful byzantine art and architecture.
In the 15th century, during the Ottoman period, Thessaloniki became a haven for Jews exiled from Spain, who were a very important part of the city's culture till they were sent to concentration camps by the Nazi occupation. Thessaloniki became a part of modern Greece in 1912 but was burned in 1917 creating a homeless population of 70,000. If you add to this mixture more than 270,000 Greek refugees that came from Turkey a few years later and you have the making of a social revolution that characterizes the city till this day. The rebetiko music (or the Greek blues) that flourished in the city mirrors its colourful past. Originally the music of the underclass it was created in the tekedes, the Turkish style hash dens, and its lyrics reflect the poverty and despair of the refugees. If you find all these interesting there is a great book I suggest named "Salonica: city of ghosts" by Mark Mazower.

Today Thessaloniki is a lively modern city with lots of energy and life (and too much traffic most of the times!). Apart from the traffic, Thessaloniki is very different from Athens both culturally and in life style. The influence from the east is more pronounced and is easily recognised in the food (will have a separate post for this-best food in the world...and then comes Taiwanese food) and the relaxed (not so much any more unfortunately) way of life. With two universities both of them in the heart of the city (one of them, Aristotle University has 60,000 students!) has a university town feel. The city is also the site of the Thessaloniki Film Festival in October-November. The women of Thessaloniki have the reputation of being the most chic in Greece (probably spend too much time looking in front of the mirror). As I remember the nightlife of Thessaloniki is exceptional and it accommodates all the tastes (bars, clubs, many different kinds of music, restaurants etc). Thessaloniki is great for shopping (as Phyllis' sister can confirm...) with many (too many) shops situated in the centre of the city (most of them really posh). If you like to shop clothes, shoes and jewellery you will love Thessaloniki. In a totally non biased opinion I think Thessaloniki is the best city in Greece!

That's all for now. In couple of days I will give you some more practical information about the city, especially for places you should visit.