Days 30, 31, 32 - Big City or Small Village? LAST Days in Greece

April 18, 19, 20 -Thessaloniki - Definitely NOT a Small Village!
 

View of city and Mediterranean from the top of the White Tower

Thessaloniki is the 2nd largest city in Greece.  The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general and is considered to be Greece's cultural capital.  It's also known as the 5th best party city in the world. The earliest known letters by Paul, the Apostle, was written to the early Christian church in Thessaloniki and is identified as First and Second Thessalonians. It is one of the books regarded by scholar among the books in the New Testament whose authorship by Paul is generally regarded by scholars as being undisputed.

Panorama View of Thessaloniki with Mount Olympus in the background

The city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma.  He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great.

Traveling on buses in order to get here was challenging, but we made it and met our host, Vangelis.  He had a very nice flat and we had our own room.

Having a good laugh from something (?)

Vangelis's lovely orange living room

We're packing up, so our bed has stuff all over it!

We were here three nights and enjoyed the touring the city mostly on foot. The first day was FREE Museum Day, so we tried to do it all – didn't work out though.   :(

We went to the Byzantine Museum first and and learned a lot about the history of Greece, the wars, the victories, the losses. It was very interesting! 

The spittin' image!

Who is this goddess?

Gorgeous jewelry

The glazed pottery was so beautiful in those days!

Next was the Archaeological Museum where we finally got to see the big treasures and relics of many of the ruins we have been visiting for the past month. Most of what has been collected has been from the cemeteries and crypts of people from the B.C. Era.

So much to see and learn that I can't possibly put into words even a portion of what we saw today.

The White Tower was next.  The present tower replaced an old Byzantine fortification which was mentioned around the 12th century and reconstructed by the Ottomans to fortify the city's harbour; it became a notorious prison and scene of mass executions during the period of Ottoman rule. It was substantially remodeled and its exterior was whitewashed after Greece gained control of the city in 1912. It has been adopted as the symbol of the city.

LOTS of steps!

From the top of the tower - gorgeous view of Mt. Olympus (so they say)...hazy day!

Thessaloniki's enormous 5th-century Church of Agios Dimitrios is named in honour of the city's patron saint. A Roman soldier, Dimitrios was killed around 303 on the site (then a Roman bath), on the command of Galerius, infamous for persecuting Christians. The martyrdom site is now an eerie underground crypt.  The Ottomans made Agios Dimitrios a mosque and plastered the walls. After they were kicked out, the plaster was removed, revealing Thessaloniki's finest church mosaics. While the 1917 fire was very damaging, five 8th-century mosaics have survived.

Church of Agios Dimitrios

The 2nd day we went to Noesis, a Science Center and Technology Museum.  Rich especially enjoyed this.  It was interesting because of the ancient Ancient Greek Technology featuring copies of ancient Greek machines. 

Spinning loom

Diaroma of a typical Ancient Greek home

 Technology of Transportation featuring car models that mark the history of automobile was next.  Rich's Dad will enjoy this - sorry I'm not posting too many cars here.  I think Rich took a picture of every one.  There is a prize if you can name every one of these.  :)

Shari enjoyed the technopart - different apparatuses, puzzles, and "toys".  It was fun watching the children play on everything.  I was wishing the grandchildren could have come here with us!

This puzzle has Rich really stumped!

We slept in for the 3rd day and packed up our bags to be stored at the city center at Vangelis' friend's cafe.

Good thing because we ended up walking a long distance and up hill the whole way to see some more ruins and history of Thessaloniki. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was nice with the Aegean Sea in front of us.

We keep trying to find Rich a hat just like this Greek man - pretty cool...right?

Let's celebrate the sunshine - so beautiful here!

We came back to the cafe to use the internet and to find some more couch surfers for the next part of our trip. Vangelis met us after his work and we enjoyed some more conversation with him. His English is amazing and he's so knowledgeable in various areas. He walked us to the bus stop and then with two kisses on both cheeks, we were off.

What an amazing, giving, caring, and happy Greek - We loved our stay in Thessaloniki!