Thessaloniki

We had not originally planned to go to Thessaloniki, but consider our visit there serendipity. When we shifted our flight to Athens, we needed to find the best way to get to Skopje, which was our next target city. While we could have flown from Athens to Skopje, there were no direct flights at the time maybe because of Covid, or maybe because North Macedonia and Greece aren’t best buddies [more on that in the North Macedonia blog], and it made no sense to route through Vienna and pay 100’s of dollars or 6 – 14 hours. On the other hand, flights to Thessaloniki were cheap [less than $100] and quick, and we could take MyDayTrip from Thessaloniki to Skopje.

We landed in Thessaloniki from Athens late, and took a taxi to our hotel [Holiday Inn, cheap and with points, but don’t recommend]. Both the taxi driver and the hotel clerk recommended we go to the Ladadika district for dinner. We followed the directions [several dark streets that had us wondering if we should turn around] and entered into THE place to be on a Saturday night in Thessaloniki. The whole area was lined with cafes that had set up tables that spilled into all available space in the courtyards between buildings, so it was hard to tell which tables belonged to which restaurant. We chose a table near some live music – and settled in for some amazing Tzatziki, people-watching, and cat-watching as there were dozens of stray cats and kittens throughout Thessaloniki but especially in this cafe district.

Thessaloniki is dotted with ancient walls, fortresses, churches which are just part of the landscape and don’t seem like they’ve been maintained or at least haven’t been turned into tourist destinations. They’re just part of the city, and it’s really remarkable and absolutely worth visiting. Ancient structures are tucked in and among the modern buildings.

The White Tower is the exception – it looks well maintained, and is the most recognizable feature of the city. It was built in 1430 after the fall of Thessaloniki to the Ottomans. In the 19^th century it was a prison, and coated red with the blood of those who were executed there. In the latter half of the century it was whitewashed and renamed to the White Tower.

There were 2 distinct areas in Thessaloniki – the swanky [high priced] tourist area fronting the sea, and the rest of the city where the real people live. Thessaloniki is not as well-touristed as other areas of Greece like Athens or the islands, so the swanky tourist area was a comparatively small section of town. We miraculously had friends visiting Thessaloniki the same time we were there [go figure!] and met them in the tourist area. It was beautiful and comfortable, but we took them back to the Ladadika district [which they hadn’t found yet] for lunch. The Ladadika district was still sleepy on Sunday morning, but we found a café that would serve us drinks until the kitchen opened, and had personalized service from the lone waiter.