The New York Times Spent 36 Hours in Thessaloniki

White Tower, Thessaloniki, northern Greece. Photo Source: Municipality of Thessaloniki.

Thessaloniki’s Unesco-listed monuments and multireligious remnants, as well as the city’s popular restaurants and shops, are highlighted in an extensive feature that was recently published on the website of The New York Times.

Reporter Steth Sherwood spent a weekend in the northern port city and suggests a number of places one can visit in 36 hours.

Thessaloniki

“The buzzing metropolis in the country’s northern mainland doesn’t need to trade on its looks or fame to earn respect. The once-powerful port is still filled with the Unesco-listed remains of the three empires that ruled it — the Romans, the Byzantines and the Ottomans — as well as many traces of its multireligious past, which saw Muslims, Christians and Jews living side by side,” Sherwood says.

Among the sites featured in the article are the landmark White Tower; the Aigli Geni Hamam, which was built in the 16th century as a Turkish bath and today operates as a bar; the Rotunda, built by the Roman in the early 4^th century; the Ladadika district; the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and the Museum of Byzantine Culture.

Aristotelous square, Thessaloniki

“Sprinkled among those monuments are impressive contemporary restaurants, vintage shops, a notable C.P.C. (cafes per capita) ratio and a staggering B.P.P. (bars per person) quotient,” the article notes.

Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece after Athens, and considered an important city break destination, trade and culture hub in Southeastern Europe.