Greece - Korina Miller [219]
The hip Thessaloniki Museum of Photography ( 2310 566 716; www.thmphoto.gr; Warehouse A, Thessaloniki Port; 11am-7pm Tue-Fri, 11am-9pm Sat & Sun), in a former portside warehouse, displays historic and contemporary Greek photography, plus dynamic temporary exhibitions, and a waterfront cafe.
KASTRA (ANO POLI) & THE BYZANTINE WALLS
Homes in the Kastra (Castle), also called Ano Poli (Upper Town), largely survived the 1917 fire – although the fire had originated there, the wind swept the flames down towards the sea. It had been the ‘Turkish quarter’ during Ottoman times, and contains Thessaloniki’s most atmospheric urban architecture.
Here, timber-framed, pastel-painted houses with overhanging upper storeys are clustered on small winding streets. Ambling through Kastra’s steep, winding lanes, marked by steps and tiny rivulets, is a great pleasure. Panoptic views of the city and the Thermaic Gulf can be had from the Byzantine walls above. Several important Byzantine churches are found here (see Walking Tour, opposite).
Kastra’s walls were built by Emperor Theodosius (AD 379–475), who modelled them on his own great Constantinopolitan wall system. Rebuilt in the 14th century, the walls were strengthened with marble stones from the Jewish cemetery in 1821. It’s possible to walk up them from opposite the university (Panepistimio Aristotelion) almost to the top.
Today the old quarter has also become a refuge for Thessaloniki’s leftists. Slumbering cafes and expletive-rich displays of anarchist graffiti, spray-painted in several languages and colours on the walls are a part of what lend it its character.
OTTOMAN SITES
Despite (or, because of) more than 450 years of Ottoman rule in Thessaloniki, the Turkish heritage is practically nonexistent today. However, the few remaining sites are atmospheric and worth seeing.
Atatürk’s House ( 2310 248 452; Apostolou Pavlou 75; admission free; 9am-5pm), located within the Turkish consulate grounds, was the birthplace of modern Turkey’s illustrious founder, the dashing Mustafa Kemal, in 1881. Have your identity card or passport ready, the helpful staff will lead you through this faithfully restored house. Along with numerous original furnishings and memorabilia, you’ll see other Atatürk paraphernalia such as dapper suits, white gloves and cane. Sporting!
A prison from Ottoman times until 1989, the Eptapyrgion, or Yediküle as it’s called in Turkish (in both languages, it translates as ‘Seven Towers’), is a grim reminder of Thessaloniki’s penal past, recounted in rembetika (old Greek blues) songs, behind the Byzantine Walls.
Yeni Hamam (Aigli; cnr Kassandrou & Agiou Nikolaou), an atmospheric 17th-century Ottoman structure, has great acoustics – ideal grounds for seeing a concert.
Bey Hamam (Paradeisos Baths; cnr Egnatia & Plateia Dikastirion; admission free; 9am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8.30am-3pm Sat & Sun) is Thessaloniki’s oldest Turkish bath (1444). The labyrinthine structure hosts art shows.
JEWISH SITES
Until WWII, when the occupying Nazis deported Thessaloniki’s Jewish population, the city had been one of southeast Europe’s most important centres of Jewish life. Today, there are several signs and symbols of this bygone heritage remaining, and a small, mostly elderly community that remains and clings to its traditions.
The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki ( 2310 250 406; Agiou Mina 13; admission free; 11am-2pm Tue, Fri & Sun, 11am-2pm & 5-8pm Wed & Thu) traces Thessaloniki Judaism from 140 BC to the Sephardic immigrations following 1492, ending with the Holocaust. The museum also houses remains from Thessaloniki’s large Jewish cemetery, vandalised in 1942 by the Nazis.