Things to Do in Thessaloniki

Alatza Imaret

Along with the Bezesteni, the Alatza Imaret, a former 15th-century mosque with a poorhouse, or almshouse,...

Flea Market

Just what its name implies, this market, which sprawls along Tositsa, sells everything from genuine junk...

• Markets

Jewish History Museum (aka Museum of the Jewish Presence in Thessaloniki)

This small museum uses photographs and artifacts to portray Jewish life in Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki...

• Museums

The Museum of Ancient Greek, Byzantine, and Post Byzantine Musical Instruments

What is it about music museums? The small one in Athens is one of that city's finest, and Thessaloniki...

• Museums

The Bezesteni

It would be wonderful to have a bird's-eye view of the Bezesteni's six domes and four entrances, one...

• Markets

Apostolic Diakonta Bookstore

Although this handsome bookstore specializes in books on religious matters, it also carries a wide selection...

• Shopping

Greek Agora and Roman Forum

In the 1960s, workmen digging to lay the foundations of new law courts for Thessaloniki came across the...

Ayios Dimitrios (aka Church and Crypt of Ayios Demetrios)

Like Ayia Sofia, Ayios Dimitrios was heavily restored -- in fact, almost entirely rebuilt -- after the...

Panagia Chalkeon (Virgin of the Copper Workers)

This tiny church with its three domes looks as if it would fit nicely into a miniature village. It has...

Ayia Katerini

Another of Thessaloniki's fine 14th-century churches, built with a central dome flanked by four cupolas,...

Kapani (Vlali) Market

This market sells foods, dry goods, fabrics, and just about everything else you can think of, in a hodgepodge...

• Markets

Modiano Market

Gypsies with dancing bears once played music in the Modiano Market. The bears are gone, but street musicians...

• Markets

Profitias Elias

This substantial 14th-century church, whose elaborate brick exterior has recently been restored, is a...

Panagia Acheiropoietos (Church of the Virgin Made Without Hands)

This 5th-century basilica is the only church from Thessaloniki's early Christian days to have survived...

Osios David (Latomou Monastery)

I manage to get lost almost every time I come here, but eventually find my way to this absolutely charming...

Ayia Sofia

It's a pity that Thessaloniki's two most important churches -- Ayia Sofia (Holy Wisdom) and Ayios Dimitrios...

Vlatodon Monastery (aka Vlatades)

As you toil uphill, you'll keep seeing the overhanging walls of the substantial Vlatodon Monastery, founded...

Arch of Galerius

If you need directions here, try asking for ee kamara (the arch), which is what Thessalonians call this...

• Landmarks

Rotunda (aka Ayios Yioryos)

Some say that Galerius built this massive brick-and-stone structure as his defiantly immodest mausoleum,...

• Landmarks

Ayios Nikolaos Orfanos

Like Osios David, this seemingly unprepossessing brick-and-stone church holds an astonishing treasure:...

Galerius's Palace

The emperor Galerius built himself a palace in Thessaloniki. After all, his co-emperor Diocletian was...

• Landmarks

White Tower

What Big Ben is to London, and the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, the 16th-century White Tower is to Thessaloniki....

• Landmarks

Archaeological Museum

Many of the former stars of the museum -- finds from the tombs at Derveni and the Royal Tombs at Vergina...

• Museums

Museum of Byzantine Culture

Along with the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens, this is one of Greece's preeminent Byzantine...

• Museums

Kautantzoglio Stadium