Thessaloníki - City and Ruins (Part 1)

After moving BV to her long-term berth in the marina, we took a bus into the Thessaloníki. Our first impressions were that the city is filled with a lot of concrete buildings, students and bronze statues of military leaders with big moustaches.

The White Tower    

Our first stop was the White Tower. The symbol of Thessaloníki, it is very appropriate that the White Tower now houses a museum of the history of the city. The tower was built in the late 15^th century on the site of an older Byzantine tower, right at the sea’s edge at the end of the eastern wall. It’s approximately 30m high and 20m in diameter, with 7 floors including the turret (now the museum shop) and viewing ramparts.

Over the years the tower has had many names: ‘Lion’s Tower’ (16^th century), ‘The Fortress of Kalamaria’ (18^th century), ‘Janissary Tower’ and ‘Blood Tower’ (early to mid 19^th century when it was used as a prison and place of execution). Its current name comes from around 1890 when, the tower was whitewashed on the orders of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, allegedly by a convict in return for his freedom, in a bid to refresh the tower’s image in line with the new reformist zeal. Following the return of Thessaloníki to the Greeks in 1912, the tower had a variety of uses (Meteorological Office, Sea Scout HQ) before being handed over to the Ministry of Culture and undergoing a major restoration in 1985.

Eptapirgio castle

The museum inside comprises a multimedia display, with each of the tower’s floors dedicated to a different theme. It was certainly a great way to start a tour of the city, if nothing else, for the wonderful views across the metropolis and up to the castle, the Eptapirgio, at the very top.

Galerius’ Palace - the Octagon   

Once we’d had our overview our next priority was lunch, so we followed our noses into Navarino Square where we found a very pleasant taverna. We had a delicious lunch under a sunshade in the square beside the ruins of Emperor Galerius’ Palace.

Galerius’ Palace   

Ongoing archaeological excavations under
one of the main roads in Thessaloníki    

The whole of Thessaloníki is built on the ruins of the ancient city. Every time they try to build anything they uncover more ruins and have to do some rapid archaeological work before either covering them over or abandoning the building project and leaving the ruins exposed.

Galerius’ Palace   

Large areas of Galerius’ Palace and the adjacent hippodrome, are exposed in one of the major pedestrianised streets of the city. Sadly, the palace itself was closed for refurbishment to the visitors’ walkway whilst we were in Thessaloníki but we were able to get a good view of it by walking around the perimeter of the site.

Thessaloníki, Greece