Salonika

Recently the NY Times published the Top 41 Places to Go in 2011.... and Thessalinike, (also known as Salonika) was ranked #38...
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/travel/09where-to-go.html?pagewanted=4

This is why you should come see the beauty of what has become my Greek playground!

1. Located right next to the Aegean/Meditteranean Sea!


Coming from Florida and always being around water this gave me a sigh of relief when I first landed in Greece. Actually, if you fly into SKG (Thessaloniki) you will come in right over the sea and realize immediately that the water here sparkles a different shade of blue... this is absolutely beautiful!

2. History

Not only was Thessaloniki ancient stomping ground for the relatives of Alexander the Great (approx 315 BC) but through history the city has changed hands so many times its history is completely unique. The Rotunda (I think the first phsyical structure erected to worship Zeus... at least thats what scholars say) marks this checkered history. The Rotunda is a giant building which has been adapted to suit the main religion of whoever controlled Greece throughout the ages... From the Romans to the Turks everyone has pretty much left their mark of the city.

Everywhere you can see ancient or Byzantine churches smushed between modern streets, parks, sidewalks, apartments and stores.... this is something that absolutely blew my mind the first time I saw it. Although history is SO MUCH apart of the city progress is still being made.

Haha- for example the future subway in downtown Salonika... they had to destroy part of some ancient something so that they could actually build it.
Or... like my residence hall I live in... when they were digging initially they began finding Roman stuff from back in the day... so in the basement/1st floor their is like an exhibit where the builders just left stuff and built around it.
This gives a really nice feel to the building.

3. Location

Thessalonike is located in the northern part of Greece. This means that it does get cold (we had snow here!) but not too cold. Albania, FYROM (former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), and Bulgaria are within a few hours north and Turkey is only a bus ride away to the east. Not to mention one of the hottest places to vacation here is only 1.5 hours away... Halkidiki.


4. χαλαρώ = Thessalonike local word for relax!

Hanging and and being chill is so much apart of the culture in Greece... but in the north its kicked up to a whole new level... they have a local word for it!

5. Nap time

This is a standard part of Balkan culture that I believe Americans need to adopt. Everday from 3-5 pm is naptime. Stores close, people are quite and the world seemingly stops. The streets turn from busy to quite and the everyone slips into their apartments and homes to take their daily afternoon siesta. Now- in true fashion naptime is followed by coffee... so don't fret that all productivity is lost. But things typically take longer (much longer) to get accomplished in Greece.