Greece - Korina Miller [218]
Observing a service in the underground crypt, one of the holiest places in Greece, also gives travellers the chance to experience, in some small way, religion as Thessaloniki’s first Christians did, at a time when one’s faith was constantly being tested by the all-too-real fear of being discovered and killed by the state. When the priest gathers parishioners around the site of the saint’s martyrdom and speaks in soft tones of moral edification, this past reality really hits home.
The crypt liturgy also allows female travellers who wish they could visit Mt Athos a chance to experience modern Greece’s unbroken tradition of ancient Orthodox spirituality first-hand. You don’t have to be particularly religious to attend, so long as you dress and act quietly and respectfully (turn off your phone).
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The 8th-century Church of Agia Sofia ( 7am-1pm & 5-6.30pm), a not-so-small miniature of its İstanbul namesake, occupies Plateia Agias Sofias south of Egnatia. One of Thessaloniki’s most important churches, it has a striking mosaic of the Ascension of Christ in the dome.
An even older Byzantine church, the 5th-century Church of the Panagia Ahiropiitos ( 7am-noon & 4.30-6.30pm) has a basilica form and notable surviving mosaics and frescoes. The name, meaning ‘made without hands’, refers to a miraculous 12th-century appearance of an icon of the Virgin.
Near Ano Poli’s Byzantine Walls, the Monastery of Vlatadon (cnr Eptapyrgiou & Agathangelou; 7.30am-5pm & 5.30-8pm) has a leafy, secluded location and a small museum ( 10am-noon Sun), plus a gift shop. Nearby is the little 5th-century Church of Osios David ( 9am-noon & 4-6pm Mon-Sat), allegedly built to commemorate the baptism of the anti-Christian Galerius’ daughter, Theodora, conducted secretly while her father was away on business. It contains well-preserved mosaics and rare 12th-century frescoes depicting the baptism of Christ.
A five-minute walk further east leads to the 4th-century Church of Nikolaos Orfanos ( 2310 213 627; Irodotou 20; 8.30am-2.30pm Tue-Sun), which has superb (though age-darkened) frescoes. To help preserve them, candles are only lit during Sunday-morning mass.
MUSEUMS
The Archaeological Museum ( 2310 830 538; Manoli Andronikou 6; admission €6, students free; 8.30am-8pm) showcases prehistoric, ancient Macedonian and Hellenistic finds. However, the most impressive exhibits, featuring finely worked gold objects discovered in the royal tombs at Vergina, have been returned to their rightful place, so to see them you’ll have to go there. You can see the Derveni Crater (330–320 BC), a huge, ornate Hellenistic vase of bronze and tin. Used for mixing wine and water, and later as a funerary urn, it’s marked by intricate relief carvings illustrating the life of Dionysos, with mythical figures, animals, vines and ivy branches. The Derveni Treasure contains Greece’s oldest surviving papyrus piece (250–320 BC). The ground-floor exhibit, Pre-Historic Thessaloniki, boasts the Petralona Hoard – axes and chisels in an urn, abandoned by the artisan, in the Petralona Cave north of Halkidiki (Click here), plus daggers, pottery and tools from mound tombs dating from the Neolithic period to the late Bronze Age.
The snazzy Museum of Byzantine Culture ( 2310 868 570; www.mbp.gr; Leoforos Stratou 2; admission €4; 8am-8pm Tue-Sun, 1.30-8pm Mon) uses ambient lighting and features a running wall placard text explaining more than 3000 Byzantine objects, including frescoes, mosaics, embroidery, ceramics, inscriptions and icons from the early Christian period to the Fall of Constantinople (1453).
The Museum of Ancient Greek & Byzantine Instruments ( 2310 555 263; musbyzorga@otenet.gr; Katouni 12-14) displays instruments from antiquity to the 19th century, but was closed at the time of writing; consult the Office of Tourism Directorate