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.

Hotels in Thessaloniki

Hi there

In this post I will give you some information and suggestions for hotels in Thessaloniki. You have two choices for the locations of the hotel. Either at the city centre or at Panorama (which is where the wedding will take place and it's just 20-30 min drive from the centre). If you stay at the centre you have easy access to the bars, restaurants, shops etc (everything in walking distance) but you need to book a taxi to come to the wedding (it costs around 10-15 euros). Panorama, which is the "posh" suburb of Thessaloniki, has few shops, restaurants and bars ( most people go to the centre if they want to go out), but it will be more convinient for the wedding. Of course all the historical monuments and museums are in the centre of the city(there will be a post very soon about them).

If you want to book a hotel in Panorama I would suggest two hotels: Hotel Nepheli (http://www.nepheli.gr/default.aspx) or hotel Panorama ( http://www.hotelpanorama.gr/eng/ ). Both of them have a good reputation but I think the first is cheaper. Another hotel that is propably very cheap, but don't know how good it is, is hotel Pefka. They don't have a website but they are located in the centre of Panorama. This is a 2 star hotel, whereas the other two are 3-4 stars. I would suggest the first one.

In the the city of Thessaloniki you have more choices. If you want to spend lots of money I have 2 suggestion: Electra Palace ( http://www.electrahotels.gr/electra-thessaloniki// ) or Makedonia Palace ( http://www.lux-hotels.com/makedoniapalace ). Both of them have great views with the first being in the heart of the city (Aristotle square) and facing the sea. Both of them are quite expensive (~200E/night). For more realistic suggestion hotel Luxembourg is a good choice ( http://www.hotelluxembourg.gr/). It is located in the city centre, seconds away from all the good stuff (shoping, bars, restaurants, seafront) and in a reasonable price. Friends have told me that it's a good choice. More choices in the city centre are Zaliki Hotel ( http://zalikihotel.gr/hotel.html ) , abc hotel ( http://www.hotelabc.gr/ ), Plaza art hotel ( http://www.hotelplaza.gr/main_uk.htm), Park hotel ( www.parkhotel.com.gr/index_en.html ), Tourist hotel (http://www.touristhotel.gr/maineng.htm ). These are only some that I can remember. From a quick web search I found the following link which provides information and cheaper booking offers for hotels in thessaloniki:

http://www.booking.com/searchresults.html?city=-829252&error_url=http://www.booking.com/city/gr/thessaloniki.html%3Faid%3D303948;label%3Dthessaloniki-MsloHTus6RURmqfmCvRJ1wS899361981;sid%3Ddb0a28b7eb0875fa2c51925d7e3f0b9e;&aid=303948&label=thessaloniki-MsloHTus6RURmqfmCvRJ1wS899361981&sid=db0a28b7eb0875fa2c51925d7e3f0b9e&checkin_monthday=20&checkin_year_month=2009-8&checkout_monthday=23&checkout_year_month=2009-8

You can have a look at the hotels and check which one you like. However before you pick one just send me (or Phyllis) an email so I can check the location of the hotel. There are no really dangerous areas in Thessaloniki, however some hotels are in really boring areas and a bit far from the main attractions of the city.

I will try to find some more information about hotels and will post more information soon.

That's all for now!

Flights to Greece

Hi again!

I will give you some information for flights to Thessaloniki. From UK there are british airways  and easyjet that fly from Gatwick, however there is an issue for the outbound trip. Both flights are really early in the morning (easyjet 6.55 and BA 08.30) which means you need to fly to Gatwick the night before and spent a night at the airport...(I know that's crap!). easyjet is by far .  However especially from the UK there are charter flights. Sites like http://www.travelrepublic.co.uk/ and http://www.flydeals.co.uk can give you choices for cheaper or more convinient charter flights (around £150-200 return flight). Another choice is to flight through Zurich to Thessaloniki, however I do not know how much this might cost. For sure the cheapest choice is with easyjet through london, but you need to wait for a few hours in the airport (6-7hrs) 

 The alternative is to fly to Athens and either get a connecting flight to Thessaloniki or get the train or the bus to the north (the trip is 45min by air, 5hrs by train or 6-7hrs by bus). For flights to Athens you have more choices. There is BA (expensive but the best service), easyjet (cheap), olympic air and aegean airlines. The last two are greek companies. If you are planning to fly to Athens check aegean airlines. They fly from Stansted and have very good deals with full service. Olympic has flights from Gatwick and Heathrow. They are under new ownership so they might have some good offers (it's our national airline, notorious for delays-however the past years they have improved. On the other hand because they have cancelled their flights to Thessaloniki I will never use them again...bastards!!). KLM and olympic airlines also flies from Amsterdam to Athens. They used to fly to Thessaloniki but cancelled the flight a few years ago (bastards again!!!).  

If you are flying through Athens to Thessaloniki I would suggest to use aegean or olympic, because they are the two main carriers for internal flights. Internal flights if booked seperately from your ticket to Greece might be really expensive (50-150 euros) so try to book everything together. 

The train from Athens to Thessaloniki is quite nice but can be a bit expensive. If you get the intercity it costs from 30 euros to around 50 if you get the really fast one (4hrs). The problem is that you can not book online. If you get the slower train it can be even cheaper. There is an overnight train in which you can book a bed and sleep throught the trip, which is cheap as well (if you don't mind a few farts and the smell of garlic...) If you actually want to use the train please contact me so I can give you more information. The bus is the cheapest way to travel but it's a long trip and can be quite tiring. As with the train please contact me so I can help you book tickets for the bus. 

Aegean and Olympic are quite handy if you are flying from Italy ( and Alitalia of course). I think it is easier to flight from Italy to Thessaloniki than UK. 

That's all for now...I will try to post some more information soon about the city of Thessaloniki and accomodation. 

It's official we are getting married!

Hi everyone! 

Four years ago, in exotic Glasgow, I had the luck to meet a sweet, warm hearted and beautiful Taiwanese girl. She had the best smile in the world. What can I do I fell for her! We enjoyed two very happy years living in the cosmopolitan Townhead area of Glasgow, however the visa monster eventually won and the past year and a half we have 15000 miles to separate us. This torture couldn't last forever so we decided he had enough! it's time to get married! This Christmas trying to be romantic...but failing miserably I popped the question and sweet Yi-Huei (aka Phyllis, Susanna...) said yes!!!!

All is set and the date for the glorious event is 21st of August in my home city (and best city in Greece) Thessaloniki!

For her bad luck however she left the organization of the event to the host...(that's me!).She is already on the verge of a stroke...Notorious for my amazing organisational  skills I created this blog to provide information for our friends from around the world that will honour us by attending our wedding. In due time I will post various information and news relating the event and most importantly information regarding travelling to Thessaloniki, hotels, flights and amazing beaches nearby. Of course if more information or help is needed me and Phyllis are happy to help!

That's all for now. I hope to see as many of you as possible at our wedding.