Thessalonika

The city of Thessaloniki is not nice. The Byzantine churches are.
Most of the churches in the lower town are squeezed between ugly modern buildings. I liked the upper town better. Some of the old Ottoman architecture has been preserved in the narrow streets and steep staircases. The frescoes there are among the most beautiful in Thessaloniki, but the monasteries are rather inconspicuous from the outside. I walked past the entrance to the Latomou monastery twice before I finally found it.
Assif wrote in his review that it is impossible to find out the opening hours of the churches. This has not changed until today. You can‘t rely on the information provided on the Thessaloniki tourism website or on Google Maps. Even the info boards at the entrance to the churches are not fully reliable. I stood in front of the closed door to the Church of the Saviour three times, although the information board said: open daily from 7am to 3pm. But I only missed this one and the Byzantine Bath (closed on weekends), I could visit all the other monuments from the inside.

I visited Thessaloniki on a weekend in September 2023. On Saturday afternoon I found four churches open, either after a wedding (Hagios Demetrios, Vlatades Monastery) or after evening mass (Agia Ekaterini, Prophet Elias). But all churches were open on Sunday (with the exception mentioned above), from the end of morning mass around 10am until late afternoon. Photography was allowed in all monuments.

My …

I only had half a day to visit the inscribed sites in Thessaloniki so I had to carefully plan my visit. First I picked the churches I wanted to visit most (7 out of 14) and planned a route which went through them. They are all not far from each other and the route can be perfectly done by foot. The problem is finding out the opening times. From the ones I wanted to visit (Rotunda, Acheiropoietos, Hagia Sophia, Panagia Chalkeon, Hagios Demetrios, Hosios David and Nikloaus Orfanos) only the Rotunda now serves as a museum. All the others are functioning churches and it is practically impossible to find out whether they are open to visitors or not before you head there unless you can call them before and talk to the priests in Greek. I was lucky though. In a summer Friday morning all the churches were open, although there were services taking place in three of them. Despite processes of secularisation, Greece is still a deeply religious country. Even morning masses in a working day proved to be well visited. It was impossible to visit the churches during service, but I could still stand at the door, listen to the liturgy and catch a glimpse of the interior, which is way better that standing in front of a closed church.

I will try to summarise my impressions:

1) The Rotunda surprised me as a very impressive massive Roman building. It was the second largest Roman building …

Late antiquity, the rise of Christianity and the early Byzantine empire are periods of history I have grown fond of. When you come from a site like the Pantheon in Rome or Diocletian’s palace in Split and go to a church like San Vitale in Ravenna, you actually see the epic change that took place in late antiquity. Thessaloniki is part of the transition and you will find plenty of sites from the late Roman (300 CE) period as well as early Byzantine period.

Thessaloniki functioned as my hub during my exploration of the Northern Greek WHS. So most of the site seeing was done at late hours and I did not manage to see all I had set out to visit. But possibly due to the upcoming Easter holiday, church services were held mostly in the evenings allowing me to sneak into most. Of the churches I found St Demetrios the most impressive. Also the tiny chapels gave a good impression of early Christianity.

Comparatively, though, Thessaloniki is a bit underwhelming. To me Ravenna offers the better early Byzantine churches. I also found the paleo Christian sites in Italy more appealing (e.g. St Ambrosius in Milan, not a WHS). And the ruins scattered across the city are similar to a site like Merida in Spain. I did wonder why the Roman forum and the palace of Galerius are not included.

Generally, I approve of the reduced scope of the inscription. Sure, Thessaloniki has a nice coast …

Visited August 2016.

It is possible to see all inscribed properties in just one day, but you have to start early as some churches are open only from 9am to 11am (Panagia Chalkeon). The most impressive for me was St. Demetrios although its interior looks very new and it’s hard to feel the byzantine atmosphere there. The most beautiful is Osios David/Latomou Monastery. Some of the churches are closed for the public (Christ Saviour). The most beautiful view of the city can be seen from Blatades Monastery and the northern city walls.

I really recommend a guidebook Monuments of Thessaloniki by Nikos Papachatzis in which you will find lots of info about early Christian and byzantine monuments; keeping it in hands while walking through the city you will have a chance to see many details that you would not have noticed without it.

I agree with Charilaos' comment that the church of Ossios David is the most atmospheric of the WHSs in Thessalonika. More like a cave than a building, it is located on a hill overlooking the city.

The very small Church of "Osios David" adjacent to the hill top Castle walls of Thessaloniki, has a charm and human scale above many of the other churches.

In a concrete city the softness of its stones and trees are very welcoming.

Thessalonikis very easy access to the sea meant that many conquerors or rulers demolished buildings of earlier times and send them as far as Sicily and even Syria.

Osios David has Columns and stones that are obviously broken left over items from the lucrative export industry.

Thessaloniki and its hinterlands easy sea access has left very few items from above ground buildings.

If you walk along the walls of the hill top castle, you can see broken carved columns and carved stones build in to the walls. The pity is that even in the last ten years, some items have been dug out and sold. I believe one column top remains visible on the south east of the wall, that is a replica of the few columns remaining at Pella, Alexanders City, 40Km away.

If you have an interest in human History & Geography, and its winter with no glare, get a good Russian detail map, Greeks do not print maps?, its possible to see 10,000 years of human history carved out in the surrounding landscape of Thessalonikis hinterland.

I have visited Thessaloniki one week ago (August 2008), and I have been deeply impressed by the town. The walk along the waterfront is wonderful and you really can feel the greatness of the town`s position with its historical gulf. Looking at Alexander o Megas statue near the sea gives you a tip about the importance of this metropolis, WH objects are easy to find as streets in Th. are so regular. I particularly appreciated the church of Saint Demetrius, simply amazing...Walk and walk, since the town is really big. Via EGNATIA, the ancient street which linked Brindisi (and Rome)in Italy to Costantinopoli is alive and kicking there, full of traffic. I would not go to Th. in August since it gets very hot in the afternoon.

IMPORTANT> do not forget to walk up the the amazing, fantastic byzantine walls that still sorround the town. YOu can have a fantastic view of Thessaloniki and the gulf from there, at sunset for example, and have good meals in scattered taberna all around. I LOVE THESSALONIKI!

Thessaloniki was a pleasant surprise for me. I hadn't thought much about it before, but it's really a very clean and modern metropolis with a nice view of the sea (especially from the top of the White Tower) and a much milder (and less smoggy) climate than Athens. Its WH monuments are scattered throughout the city, but are easy to find and represent a good cross-section of the city's history from ancient Greek and Roman to Byzantine and Turkish times. The Byzantine churches especially are very interesting, but also the remains of the Roman Palace and the Triumphal Arch merit a closer look. I wouldn't go to the city just for its WH value, but there are many other reasons to go there, and seeing its historical buildings is definitely a good way to become acquainted with Thessaloniki.

Thessaloniki is a typical large Greek city. This means four lane roads across the city center, creative parking and so on.

The city's most prominent landmarks are the White Tower (lovely posted near the sea) and the Ayia Sofia. This church has an imposing front, and quite distinguished interior. The main colours inside are a kind of dark green, black and bordeaux. Somewhat mystique, especially in combination with the scarce glimpses of sunlight that manage to get in.

There are also innumerable small Byzantine churches scattered around the city. Quite often they are hidden behind apartment blocks, or blocked from the view by parked cars. If you've got some stamina and good walking shoes you can visit several of them, and also enjoy their frescoes.