Hello!
Can't find anything from RS in his Greece book or the Mediterraen cruise ports book for Thessaloniki. Has anyone been to this area and can share info about the second largest city in Greece? Seems this Macedonian area is worth checking out: any interesting sites?
Thanks
You'll find several Thessaloniki travel guides in bookstores (or can be ordered online);
You can also visit the city's official website:
https://www.thessalonikitourism.gr/index.php/en/
We spent four days in Thessaloniki last September. It's a very different city from Athens, with a predominant Ottoman and Byzantine influence. Culturally, the people have a different mentality than in Athens.
Since we tend to wander around the city, sometimes to places off the beaten track, we could have easily stayed two more days.
The "modern" part by the sea is nice, with its famous White Tower and the large Aristotelous Square (designed by a French architect), but we preferred the old town (Ano Poli) in the hills. Public transportation is efficient, and there's now a metro line that opened this year.
I can't recommend a hotel as we're staying in an apartment.
Some pictures:
I plan to visit northern Greece and have the Bradt Guide, which is comprehensive for Greece.
There's an Archaeological Metro-Museum Site at the recently opened Venizelou metro station. It's free to visit, just walk down the stairs and it runs under the street. There's a short movie and exhibits that show the layers of excavation and findings.
The Hagias Sophias metro station displays a remnant of a mosaic floor. Another case displays an "archaeological trench" of objects unearthed at each depth, showing the continuity of Thessaloniki during each era, from Roman to modern. We spent an hour in these 2 stations wandering around the displays.
You can read about the engineering works and archaeological encounters along the way.
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/thessaloniki-new-metro-ancient-artifacts-2579729
A single ticket to ride the modern system is €0.60.
