Third Wave Travel - Explore Greece - Discover Greek Cities

Visit Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece founded by King Kassander of Macedonia in 315 BC in the heart of the Thermaic Gulf. Kassander named the city Thessaloniki after his wife who was sister of Alexander the Great. It became a very prosperous city, a commercial and cultural centre and during the Roman era it was linked to the East and the West by Via Egnatia. In the Byzantine period it was the second largest city in the eastern half of the empire and it was filled with outstanding monuments characteristic of Byzantine art from the 5th to the 14th centuries AD. Nowadays Thessaloniki is a cosmopolitan city worth visiting with a rich cultural life and it makes an excellent base for exploring the land of Alexander the Great.

In Thessaloniki itself there are plenty of things to do.

First of all you can visit the Archaeological Museum to get a glimpse into the history of Macedonia and Thessaloniki. The exhibits date from the prehistoric times to the early Christian era.

The Museum of Byzantine culture is worth visiting. There are permanent and temporary exhibitions regarding the first Christian times, the private life of people, pre-byzantine period, burial architecture, painting and religious customs.

During the Roman Empire Thessaloniki was adorned with a large number of splendid buildings. At the beginning of the 4th century AD the tetrarch Galerius transferred the capital of his province to Thessaloniki and had a series of buildings made for his personal use.

Part of the complex of Galerius is the Rotunda, an imposing brick-built circular building covered by a huge dome, which might have been the Mausoleum of Galerius. In the early Byzantine period it was converted into a Christian church and was embellished witn superb mosaics.

You can also see the Triumphal Arch of Galerius (Kamara), which was built at the crossroads of Egnatia or Via Regia as it was called and the processional way leading from the Palace to the Rotunda. From the Palace you can see the Octagon, an unusual building, paved with diamond-shaped and square slabs of marble, which is thought to have been the throne room.

Thessaloniki is famous for its Byzantine period. There are plenty of churches decorated with fine mosaics and frescoes representative of various periods of Byzantine Art.

Visit St Demetrius, the largest church of Thessaloniki, first built in the 5th century, destroyed by fire in the 7th century and rebuilt in the form of a five-aisled basilica. You can mosaics of the 5th century that survived the fire and mosaics of the 7th after its reconstruction. It is very interesting to see the crypt in the basement, part of the Roman baths that stood here before the church.

Visit Osios David, the church of Latomos Monastery, erected at the end of 5th century AD in the upper city to see mosaics that date to the 5th c. and wall-paintings of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Visit the elegant church of St Nikolaos Orphanos, founded in the beginning of the 14th century when Thessaloniki was at its zenith to see the rich colours of the wall-paintings, which are representative of the Palaiologean Dynasty.

All these Byzantine monuments are in the historic center of Thessaloniki, within the ancient walls. You can see part of the Byzantine defence walls, towers and gates in the upper city. One of the towers of the walls, the symbol of the city of Thessaloniki, is the White Tower, which was built in the 15th century AD next to the old Byzantine Tower, at the southern end of the wall towards the sea, it served as a prison and nowadays it is a museum of History and Art.

Apart from visiting museums and monuments take time to wander around the city, to walk in the commercial streets with the trendy shops, to enjoy the sea view from the waterfront cafés and to savour the delicious food in the taverns and restaurants of Thessaloniki which are famous all over Greece.

Don’t miss a visit to Modiano, the covered market in a restored old building where some of the best eating places are.

Go to Ladadika, the old historic suburb, which was not destroyed in the big fire of 1917, was renovated and it is now a very lively area full of restaurants and bars.

If you visit Thessaloniki in the winter time, you can go skiing to the best ski centers of northern Greece which are all close.

In the summer you can explore the beaches in Chalkidiki and the most interesting archaelogical sites of Macedonia like Pella, Dion, Vergina and Phillipoi.