Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki is my home town and a charming place in its own unique way. It is a large coastal Greek city, an old, biblical place established in the Hellenistic times. It carries the name of a sister of Alexander the Great and it has been a major metropolis in the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Today is a thriving port and a designated Unesco world heritage site for its Roman, Byzantine and Palaeochristian monuments. These include the second largest round-shaped Roman building after the Pantheon in Rome and several early churches including one built in the 4th century AD (Hosios David, the wonderful mosaic there should not be missed).
The city's culture has been positively formed by various ethnicities and several waves of immigration which the city welcomed in its history. They include a large and culturally very important population of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, refugees from Anatolia in 1922 and Pontian Greeks from the Caucasus which fled conflict after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Thessaloniki is a fascinating city that lies on the boundary between East and West in every sense including its architecture and food. The modern town sprawls around the Thermaic gulf and features a beautiful promenade facing the sunset, squares around ancient ruins and Byzantine churches set in an urban landscape which contains quite an eclectic mix of buildings from every decade of the 19th and 20th centuries. The upper part of the city is a mostly residential district set on a hill and features Byzantine walls, ancient churches, small old houses and narrow streets. Thessaloniki hosts a fabulous Byzantine museum, a very substantial archaeological museum and a small but interesting modern art museum.
It is typical but I saw more of my own hometown after I left and then returned as a visitor. For those who have the time and inclination, I have created a large album with 600+ photos, which I hope to organise at some point. The album covers the city and its districts as well as its monuments, museums and Byzantine churches. Double click on the image to see it.
