Thessaloniki suggestions

[Happy_Traveler_2008]

Hi,

 

My 2 friends and I have a 5 hour stay at Thessaloniki in early September. What is the best way for us to see the major sights? Thanks!

[photographia]

Thessaloniki is not a do-it-yourself kind of city. Sites are far apart, definitely not walkable; the city is very dirty and crowded, and they drive like nothing you've ever seen (and I'm originally from NY, so that's saying a lot! ;) ), so you don't want to be crossing the street on a yellow light, fer sure!

 

If I had that amount of time there, this is what I would do: I would find some way to get down to the harbor, where there is a nice square (I think it's named after Aristotle?), and the so-called "Blood Tower" which was unfortunately closed for restoration when I was there last year. And perhaps most interesting of all, there's a Byzantine museum down there somewhere which recently won some sort of prize for being the all-time best museum in all of Europe, if you can imagine that! We had no time to see it, and I could have cried because apparently it's beautifully laid out and covers a fascinating period of history that you'll rarely find elsewhere. If I ever get back to Thessaloniki, that's the first place I'm going to go.