Day 1 Greece

Nickolaos met us at 9 am to walk down to breakfast. There wasn’t anything but pastries and ham and cheese breakfast sandwiches in the first three places we stopped. The street is nothing but restaurants and coffee shops so we didn’t have to go far to find one that juiced fruit. 

I had a grain free bar from home, a cup of tea and a smoothie with nothing but fruit and carrots. It was very refreshing. Kim got a ham and cheese sandwich and coffee. Nickolaos went next door and got a ham and cheese on croissant and brought another one back to Kim 🤣 so he had two sandwiches for breakfast.

Then we were off to walk the city. 

There is graffiti everywhere. 

Thought this cutout for the tree in the awning was pretty cool. 

Just a little side street. 

I was trying to get a pic of the stuff on the awning, not the guys underwear 🤣. 

The Roman forum of Thessaloniki from the Roman era was the gathering place for all the activities and had shops all around. It is a large two terraced forum with two story stoas, dug up by accident in the 1960s. They had planned to build the municipal courthouse there but after discovering the ruins that plan was scrapped. There are two Roman baths, one has been excavated but the other is still buried. 

There was also a small theater, used for gladiator games. 

Next stop is the church of Saint Demetrius, the patron Saint of Thessaloniki. It dates from a time when Thessaloniki was the second largest city of the Byzantine empire and it is part of the site: Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of world heritage sites  

I hope you can read this interesting story about Saint Anyssia. I’m just really glad I don’t have to rely on her remains and holy relics for miracles and healing. 

A marble cyborium which houses a bronze shrine holding the holy relics of Saint Demetrius. These are believed to be a source of blessings, miracles, and beneficence to the citizens of Thessaloniki. When we were there a young man was standing in front of the shrine making the sign of the cross. It’s so sad that so many believe these inanimate objects can do something for them. 

You just thought our pews were uncomfortable. 

You can buy candles to light. The really long ones are 15€. Weird thing is, as soon as you walk away there’s a lady extinguishing them and then they are recycled. So why pay 15€ for a long one when you can pay 50 cents for one that’s going to last long enough for her to come get it. 🤷‍♀️ 

These mosaics depict St. Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration of the church (called the founders, ktetors) and with children. An inscription below one of the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Thessalonica from a pagan. 

Other magnificent mosaics, recorded as covering the church interior, were lost either during the four centuries when it functioned as a mosque (1493–1912) or in the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 that destroyed much of the city. It also destroyed the roof and upper walls of the church.

Following the Great Fire of 1917, it took decades to restore the church. Tombstones from the city’s Jewish cemetery - destroyed by the Greek and Nazi German authorities - were used as building materials in these restoration efforts in the 1940s. Archeological excavations conducted in the 1930s and 1940s revealed interesting artifacts that may be seen in a museum situated inside the church's crypt. The excavations also uncovered the ruins of a Roman bath, where St. Demetrius was said to have been held prisoner and executed. A Roman well was also discovered. Scholars believe this is where soldiers dropped the body of St. Demetrius after his execution. 

Going down into the Roman  baths. Not going to say a lot about these pics and there are quite a few. 

A fountain

When we came back up from the baths. The priest was blessing this newborn. 

Mosaic walkway outside the church. 

Interesting brick and stonework. 

On to the rotunda 

More graffiti 

Entrance to the Rotunda. 

The Rotunda is an impressive circular building in the centre of Thessaloniki. It was originally constructed by Roman general Galerius in about 300 AD and in the late 4th century AD, it was turned into a Christian church and decorated with nice frescoes. When the town was conquered by the Ottomans, Rotonda was turned into a mosque. After it was liberated in the early 19th century, it first became a church again and then a sculpture museum.

Crazy tree

The cylindrical structure was built in 306 AD on the orders of the tetrarch Gallerias, who was thought to have intended it to be his mausoleum.

The Rotunda has a diameter of 24.5 m. Its walls are more than 6 m thick, which is why it has withstood Thessaloniki's earthquakes. A flat brick dome, 30 m high at the peak, crowns the cylindrical structure.

The church was embellished with very high quality mosaics. Only fragments have survived.

Model of Rotunda. 

Mostly known as Kamara, the Arch of Galerius was constructed in 305 AD to celebrate and commemorate the final victory of Roman general Galerius over the Persians. This victory is the main theme of the carved scenes on this arch, which was connected with the Palace of Galerius and the Rotonda.

Love these fall colors on this incredibly hot day!

A cookie with coffee. 

It’s not quite 2 o’clock Vicki, but time for a coffee break. 🤣

Order a cup of coffee and you get a glass of water and a cookie. Kim ordered a Greek coffee. You are left with a thick sludge at the bottom. 

We are now headed to the archeological museum. 

City of Thessaloniki on the hilltop. 

On the way, we passed this men’s shoe store and Nickolaos wanted to see how much a pair of boots in the window cost. You can see the prices are crazy cheap for real leather shoes and boots. Apparently he is going out of business. Anyway, they didn’t have his size. 

This is a communication tower with a circular restaurant which has been closed since COVID. They plan to reopen in October. 

We have arrived at the museum. I took a gazillion pics so I’m not going to post them all because this is already too long and I’ve got miles to go before I sleep. 

This is a burial urn from around the 8th century BC. 

A cemetery. 

A bronze pin used to hold the shoulders of a toga together. 700 BC. 

This is all the jewelry and relics found in the grave of a wealthy young woman. Love the spiral copper bracelets. 

The clock of Philippoi. It was used to calculate the time, distance, height and angular distance on the horizon of the sun or some other star. 

This was on the crypt of an young boy. 

This is the bill of sale for a slave girl (2 months old). Her name is Nike and the price was 15 pieces of silver. So sad. 

Deed of sale for a house. Can you imagine chiseling all this? 

Shin guards and sandal spurs. 

This ones for you Jo Anne. This is a bee hive. They were mostly made of wood and other perishable materials but a few clay ones like this have survived. We know from Aristotle that the taste of honey depends on the flowers that bees feed on and that honey tastes better in the spring. 

A huge mosaic 

Closeup of the mosaic 

This female skeleton was amazingly intact due to the well sealed coffin. You can see her braided hair. 

Gold leaf crown. 

This is not even 1/4 of the pics I took but enough is enough. It’s just so mind boggling to think about how they did all of this centuries BC. 

Walked along the waterfront on our way to the White Tower. 

Statue of Alexander the Great.

(Aléxandros ho Mégas)

Tourist boats 

The White Tower stands in the waterfront of Thessaloniki, and has become the symbol of the town over the years. It was originally built in the 16th century by the Ottomans as a fortress, on the site of a former Byzantine tower. During its history, the White Tower has been used as a garrison and a prison for people sentenced to death in the late 19th century, which is why it was called the Tower of Blood and was painted red at that time. Today it works as a Byzantine museum. It was whitewashed to get rid of the memory of bloodshed. It’s no longer white but is still known as the white tower.

Climbing the stairs to the top. 

Views from the top. 

Stairs down. 

Stairs up. 

There are 92 steps to the top. We felt every one of them. 

Some amazing baked and confectionery goods. 

Bailyn, this one is for you. A Greek castle cake 😁

It’s now 2 o’clock and time for lunch. Nickolaos took us to a gyro place to eat. 

Oh my good gravy, this thing is huge. We ordered three of these and a huge salad for the table and it was only 20€. Astounding!!!

Slicing off the meat. 

Walkway of restaurants. 

Some more amazing looking sweets. 

We passed an ice cream shop with lots of flavors (at least 31 🤣) and Kim couldn’t resist. 

Walking back to the apartment to get our luggage and move to another hotel. 

walked through the market. 

Lots of fish 

And pig parts (tongue)

Feet

This is more my cup of tea: cooked, sealed and displayed with pumpkins. 🤣 

I don’t know if you can tell from this pic or not but it started poring down rain. It’s flowing out of this downspout and running down the street. We were glad it started raining because we got to spend more time in the market. Nickolaos seemed to be in a hurry and it slowed him down. Speaking of that, he was on his phone a lot while walking. He wasn’t paying much attention to us so we would stop and look at something along the way and just wait to see how long it took him to notice we weren’t behind him. 😂

Walking on cobblestones again. 

Thought you might enjoy these lovely pics from the outside of the disastrous apartment. It was too dark to take them last night so took some as we returned to get our bags. 

The entrance. 

The stairway. 

Street from front. 

View from our window. 

Kim a checking in to our new lodging. A slight improvement. 

The view. 

Our room is the second from the top in the corner with white balcony. 

Ok. I’m done for the night. So sorry for how long this is. 

Kalinikta (goodnight)