August 31 – Thessaloniki

Today we picked up a local guide to assist with our city tour.  We stopped at the Archaeological Museum of Thessloniki.

Believed to be a portrait of Alexander the Great

The Byzantine Museum,

a quick photo stop at the remnants of a triumphal arch,

took photos of a nearby rotunda (had several uses in its life, including a church and a prison, but not much there now so we didn’t go over to see it),

and then Greek Orthodox Church, Church of St. Demetrios.

We also drove to the top of a hill...

to see the city and harbor. 

Views from the area were extensive but not particularly beautiful.  Thessaloniki has a very commercial harbor.  However, there were good views of the wall...

One of the major features of the wall was the Trigonion Tower.

We had a quick stop at the agora…

including the old Roman latrines,

and the ancient palace before calling it a day as far as sightseeing is concerned.

Our guide then took us to an area near our hotel that had a number of authentic Greek tavernas and restaurants.  We picked one and had a very good lunch.  Along the way we saw this wall mural...a takeoff on the famous Last Supper but with Bach standing in for Jesus and various famous singers and composers as the Apostles...we recognized John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and a few others.  Others we did not know.  It was interesting street art.

We all went back to our rooms for some resting and showers and a bit of work.

The Greeks eat lunch about 2:00 and dinner around 8:00 or 9:00.  We have done a number of 2:00 lunches (as we did today) but we can’t quite manage such late dinners.  So we were back in the previous area for dinner around 7:00.

We ate al fresco in a nice restaurant right on an open plaza ringed by restaurants.  There was a fountain in the middle and our restaurant had a couple of musicians playing Greek music.  Eventually some musicians from a neighboring restaurant also started playing so it was a bit chaotic at times.

But the evening was temperate and lovely and we stayed quite a while visiting.

Our hotel at night.