This is the official start of our second year of traveling and digital nomad life. We decided to return to Greece, but this time, to spend one month in Thessaloniki, Greece. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, behind Athens. So, let’s get into how we spent our month here.
Visit Ano Poli
We stayed in the upper town of Ano Poli, a former Ottoman quarter that was not destroyed by the 1917 fire. Old Byzantine fortress walls line the upper town, and Trigoniou Tower stands impressively above it. From here, you’ll get a great view of Thessaloniki and a fantastic sunset.
There isn’t much to do in Ano Poli, so you can easily head up from the main town to explore for a few hours. Since we stayed there, we spent most days walking the fortress walls and up around the Heptapyrgion of Thessaloniki. This Byzantine fortress was constructed from 330 AD to 1453 AD and became a prison from 1936 until 1989, housing political prisoners. The entrance fee at the time we were there was around 3 Euros per person.
While in Ano Poli, you can also visit Vlatadon Monastery. It is the only surviving monastery from the Byzantine era and dates back to the 14th century AD. Not sure if you can go inside any of the buildings, but you’ll get an amazing view. On a clear day, you can see Mount Olympus. If you’re walking back to the main town from Ano Poli, you can easily stop by Pasha’s Gardens. It’s a strange park, and I wouldn’t go out of your way for it. But if you’re walking by, it’s interesting to see the ruined stone structures that resemble Guadi-style architecture. Unfortunately, it appeared to be a bit of a homeless camp.
Where to Eat in Ano Poli
If you do visit Ano Poli, here are a couple of recommendations for great restaurants in the area.
Τοίχο Τοίχο (Wall by Wall). This is a small local restaurant that serves delicious food. The mushroom risotto was amazing, and we always had to get tirokafteri (spicy feta spread). They also had a delicious local beer, and this is where I tried Retsina, a Greek resinated wine. Anopolis is another recommendation. This is a great place for breakfast, and we had some delicious pancakes there. If you want something different from traditional Mediterranean food, go north of Ano Poli, into Sykies to Sushaki Greek Sushi Experience. We were craving sushi in the one month in Thessaloniki, and Sushaki hit the spot.
What to Do in the Main Town of Thessaloniki, Greece
Unlike us, you will probably spend most of your time in the main town, right by the waterfront. Most shops, restaurants, parks, and bus stations are here. From Ano Poli, it was around a 30-minute walk for us. Going down was fine, but the return trip was a bit of a hike, so we did not venture into town daily. But here are some places we visited in the main area in our one month in Thessaloniki.
Visit the Ancient Sites of Thessaloniki, Greece
Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC, so there is no shortage of ancient ruins from Romans, Ottomans, and Byzantines. One of the first places we visited was the Rotunda. It was originally intended to be a grave for one of the Roman emperors, Galerius, but was turned into a Roman temple. There are some amazing mosaics on the ceiling. It costs around 3 Euros per person and will only take around 30 minutes. It’s definitely worth a visit!
Next to the rotunda is the Arch of Galerius. This arch is in the middle of the city and is free to enjoy. It depicts Galerius’ victory over the Persians. If you keep walking towards the water, you’ll end up at the famous White Tower of Thessaloniki.
The White Tower was an old Byzantine fortification that became a prison during Ottoman rule. Though the tower doesn’t appear white, its name comes from the 1890s, when a prisoner painted the facade white to gain freedom. It’s now a museum and costs around 8 Euros per person (4 Euros between November and March). Sean and I did not go into the museum, so we are unsure if it’s worth it.
From the White Tower, you can enjoy a pleasant walk on the waterfront to the Alexander the Great Sculpture and then to The Umbrellas Sculpture by Zogolopoulos. Make sure to catch the sunset in this area. It’s amazing!
Museums in Thessaloniki
Not everyone is a museum-goer, but Sean and I enjoy visiting museums when possible. I wouldn’t say any of them are a must-see, especially if you only have a short time. But if you’re staying for a month like we did, they can be great things to enjoy in the down time.
Our favorite was the MOMus—Thessaloniki Museum of Photography. We got the combined tickets, which cost about 18.00 € per person and included both the photography and the experimental museum across the road. The photography was incredible!
We also visited the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. It costs about 8.00 € per person and has some great stories and artifacts from Thessaloniki’s Jewish population. I would not highly recommend this museum if you’re short on time, but it is worth a visit if you have the chance.
However, the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is a must-see museum in the area. Again, the admission fee is about 8.00 € per person. This museum is one of the largest in Greece. It has an amazing collection of artifacts from the prehistoric, Hellenistic, and Roman periods and artifacts from the Macedonian region in general. This is a great visit if you love history, especially ancient history.
Finally, if you love contemporary art or just have the time and want to be really confused, check out the MOMus-Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art. Admission is 6.00 € per person, and you’ll explore some unusual and often confusing exhibits. Sean and I are not big fans of contemporary art but always find ourselves visiting contemporary art museums (usually, they make for good laughs).
Where to Eat in Thessaloniki, Greece
We ate at Thermaikos Garden several times during our month in Thessaloniki. They had the best fried feta! It was gooey and covered in honey. So good! The location was great, and the atmosphere was relaxed.
For the famous bougatsa, Bougatsa Giannis is right around the corner from Thermaikos Garden. It’s delicious and fresh bougatsa. We always went for the sweet cream covered in cinnamon and powdered sugar (I’m drooling just thinking about it). For another delicious specialty sweet found in Thessaloniki, check out Trigona Elenidis. Trigonas are triangular pastries made of phyllo dough and filled with custard. Trigona Elenidis was established in 1960 and is very popular, so you might see a line.
Across the street from Trigona Elenidis is Sean’s favorite place, BubbleTale. We originally had BubbleTale in Santorini in 2016, and Sean has talked about it since. They have great, refreshing bubble tea drinks. Our favorite was a passion fruit soda with mango bubbles.
For a more traditional, local feel, check out Το Μικράκι. It’s near Aristotelous Square and has delicious food with great service. We were a bit confused when we first walked in as it’s a cafeteria style with no menu or signs. But we had a super friendly server who gave us a couple of recommendations that turned out fantastic. The meatballs were so flavorful, and the dolmas were so good too! We also had a wonderful block of delicious feta. Great food and a good price!
Finally, if you’re looking for a good burger, Taratino’s Sandwiches & Fries was great. Sean had the BBQ burger, and I had the grilled portobello mushroom burger. If you get fries, get the mango chili mayo – it was incredible!
Day Trips to Take from Thessaloniki, Greece
Meteora
One of the most popular day trips in Thessaloniki, Greece, is to Meteora. This is the area with the famous monasteries atop rock formations. We booked a trip on Get Your Guide with Ammon Express. It was comfortable and easy but a bit expensive at around 60 € per person and did not include lunch or admission fees into the monasteries. So if you rent your own car, you might be better off visiting on your own. I’m not sure about public transportation. I looked into it a little, and there seemed to be no easy way to get to the monasteries via public transport.
Mount Olympus and Dion
The next day’s trip was again with Ammon Express to Dion archeological site and Mount Olympus. Again, it was a bit expensive at 55 € per person, but our tour guide from the Meteora trip gave us a 10% discount. This trip was actually a lot more interesting than I was expecting. We were mostly going to see Mount Olympus, but the archeological site was a highlight.
Only eight of us were on the tour, and it seemed we were the only eight people at the site. The tour guide was really fun and engaging as well. We started at the Dion museum, which was small, with only two floors. Then we went to the site, which had all sorts of ruins. It was a place where Alexander the Great camped with his army before battle to pray to the Gods.
After Dion, we drove to an information center about Mount Olympus and then onto Mount Olympus. We did a short hike to a water feature, but it was beautiful. I would highly recommend visiting. You can get to Olympus by bus if you don’t want to pay for the tour. You take the bus to the town of Litochoro, which is at the bottom of Olympus. I’m not sure how easy it would be to visit Dion by bus.
(If you play Pokemon Go, please take the gym here, Sean would be grateful. His Pokemon has been trapped there for over 100 days. hahahha)
Visiting Corfu
This isn’t really part of our month in Thessaloniki, but we were heading to Albania after Greece and decided to go via ferry from Corfu to Saranda. This meant were planned on spending 1 night in Corfu. The bus is about 4 to 5 hours to the ferry in Igoumenitsa and then about an hour and a half ferry ride to Corfu. We purchased tickets on Green Buses and asked our Airbnb host to print them for us (which we didn’t really need to do as the driver barely looked at the ticket).
If you do go this route, make sure to also purchase a separate ferry ticket. We could purchase them at the port, and the woman working there was helpful. However, I didn’t see that information anywhere, so the woman at the port gave us this website to buy them.
We arrived in Corfu in the late afternoon. As it was off-season, few places were open, but we checked into our hotel and found a nice place for dinner at Rex Restaurant. Then, we walked around a bit that night before heading to sleep.
Stranded on Corfu
We had ferry tickets from Corfu to Saranda at 9 AM, but it was thundering and lightning that night and extremely windy the next day. We still walked to the port because we could not contact the ferry line to find out if it was still running. After a 20-minute walk with our bags, we finally found out the ferry was canceled for the day (it only runs once daily in the off-season), and they would honor our tickets for the next day.
A bit frustrated, we booked another hotel for the night and enjoyed exploring Corfu. We explored the Old Fortress (which ended up being free) and got great sea views. Corfu was a great place to be stranded—we loved it!
The next day, we took a taxi to the port and got on the ferry to Saranda, Albania. It was a very easy process. If you’re looking for ferry tickets, we purchased them through Finikas Lines.