Some Great Place

Thessaloniki, Greece

2 articles

We spent twelve nights in an apartment directly across the street from the Palace of Galerius, a minute's walk from the Arch of Galerius and the Rotunda. The Schengen calendar set the length rather than the city: every day in Greece counted against the ninety we needed later for Italy and Spain. Twelve central nights proved enough to learn the place on foot. The waterfront, Aristotelous Square, the Modiano and Kapani markets, the university, Ano Poli, and the major Byzantine churches were all within walking distance, and we never needed transportation inside the city. Two one-day car rentals took us to Mount Olympus and to the Macedonian sites of Aigai, Veria, and Pella. Thessaloniki best suits travelers who want Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and modern history running through daily life rather than gathered in an old town, along with traditional Greek food at fair prices. Its principal trade-offs are central lodging and café prices above our recent Balkan bases, and Schengen days that make a longer stay expensive elsewhere in an itinerary.

At a Glance

Length of stay
12 nights
Neighborhood
Central, across the street from the Palace of Galerius and near Kamara, within walking distance of the waterfront, university, markets, and major churches
Cost level
Moderate; central lodging and coffee ran above our recent Balkan bases but well below Athens and Western European cities, while traditional meals stayed good value
Walkability
Excellent across the flat center laid out after the 1917 fire; Ano Poli is a steady climb through the Pasha Gardens and steep cobbled lanes. Streets felt safe in the evenings, though we were rarely out late
Transportation
None needed day to day; the new metro covers longer trips across the city; a taxi to the airport ran about €30 ($34), and one-day manual rentals for regional trips cost €35 to €50 ($39 to $56)
Workability
Strong from home with reliable apartment Wi-Fi; with a large university population, some cafés double as places to work on a laptop
Cultural depth
Deep and continuous; fifteen early Christian and Byzantine monuments on the UNESCO list, the Galerian arch, Rotunda, and palace, the Roman Forum, Ano Poli's walls and Vlatadon Monastery, and working churches where the liturgy continues
Principal strength
Twenty-three centuries of history set into the everyday city and walkable from one central apartment, with Mount Olympus and ancient Macedon within a day's drive
Principal limitation
Schengen days and short-stay pricing; at twelve nights, lodging ran about $83 a night, well above the monthly rates in Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia

Practical Highlights

Accommodation
Central apartment across from the Palace of Galerius, $998 for 12 nights (about $83 a night), with two small balconies over a courtyard of exposed archaeological remains; on a short stay, the location premium paid for itself in time saved
Gym
Protypo Fitness Center, €10 ($12) for a day pass; we negotiated a flat €30 ($35) each for four sessions across the stay
Coffee
A café drink ran €3 to €4 ($3.50 to $4.70); takeaway is cheaper than table service, which carries 24 percent VAT against 13 percent for takeaway; an apartment milk frother made homemade Freddos easy
Restaurant costs
Pastitsio, papoutsakia, and house wine at To Limeri, a neighborhood mageireio, €19 ($22); four plates and wine under a plane tree at Ouzeri Tsinari in Ano Poli, €25 ($29); dinner for two at Nostos, €30 ($35); a wood-fired pizza at Pizza Pezouli, €11 ($12); a two-pound wild sea bream at MareLab, €29 ($32); mageireia cook for lunch, and many close around 6:00 p.m.
Groceries
Modiano and Kapani covered fish, cheese, cured meat, olives, spices, and produce; Greek pharmacies were a good place to restock skincare and personal-care basics at fair prices
Cash
Card-friendly almost everywhere; a few independent vendors required cash
Transportation
Arrived from Sarandë on two coaches via Igoumenitsa, €15 and €41 ($18 and $48) per person, most of a day with two border crossings; left by taxi to the airport, about €30 ($34), and a short flight to Belgrade
Day trips
Mount Olympus on the E4 trail from Prionia to Refuge A, 6.8 miles round trip with 3,286 feet of gain and about six and a half hours, with no water on the trail, by €50 ($56) rental car; Aigai, Veria, and Pella as a single-day circuit of about 120 miles and just over three hours of driving, by €35 ($39) rental car, with the Aigai palace and theater grounds free and the Royal Tombs and Central Museum €20 ($22) per person; lunch for two at Taverna Platanos in Veria, €30 ($34)
Cultural highlights
The Arch of Galerius, Rotunda, and palace remains; the Roman Forum below street level; Agios Dimitrios and its crypt, Acheiropoietos, and Hagia Sophia, where we attended Sunday Vespers; the White Tower and waterfront promenade; Ano Poli's Byzantine walls, the Heptapyrgion, and Vlatadon Monastery; Apostle Paul's Holy Water, the spring tradition ties to his departure from the city; beyond the city, the Palace of Aigai, Pella, and the Bema of the Apostle Paul in Veria