Thessaloniki - the International Exhibition Centre

Thessaloniki has been hosting an international fair in the first week of September every year since 1926. It's held at the International Exhibition and Congress Centre, the entrance of which is pictured above.

The Centre is located in the YMCA Square, named like this

because of the iconic YMCA building which is situated across from the entrance to the fair.

The archaeological museum is situated here as well

On the other side of the square MOMus Contemporary is to be found.

The OTE Tower is 76 metres tall, and is located in the centre of the Exhibition Centre. It was designed by Alexandros Anastasiadis and it opened in 1970: the first black and white broadcasts on a Greek television network took place from the Tower in 1971. A revolving restaurant, The Skyline Cafe-Bar, operates on the top floors o that it allows people to get a panoramic view of the city - full rotation takes 60 minutes.

We visited, of course. In fact, we went twice. The first day was a Saturday and it was packed

it was difficult getting a window seat, but we managed it. You get a panoramic view of the city. Our first visity was on our second day so everything was new and exciting.

Our second visit was a weekday and only a few tables were occupied. It was the last day of our visit, we by then, we knew all the landmarks and we were able to identify most of what we saw, so that was very exciting too.

The Archaeological Museum

The sea, the promenade and one of the many green spaces by the promenade

The YMCA building and YMCA Square

the city and the church of Agios Dimitrios dominating the whole

Upper Town, the city walls and Eptapyrgio on top of the hill

zooming in

The International Exhibition Centre - it consists of 17 pavillions, and we can see no. 12 here

The University 

and we are back to where we started from.

Thessaloniki - the water front

Thessaloniki waterfront is a vibrant 5 kilometre promenade that offers stunning views, green spaces and recreational activities. It starts from the port and ends at the concert hall. It's a wonderful walk and we managed to do some of it every day, and did the whole thing twice. Every time it was a real pleasure.

We would start from here, the port, which was across the road from our hotel

past the Red Cross building

and this construction - I never managed to find out what it is

and then uninterrupted gorgeous sea

on our right the quay where we had our evening pre-dinner drinks, where the warship Velos is anchored and also, two museums

 Some gorgeous buildings on our left

we called this the Wedgewood building

it is beautifully lit at night.

The red columns signified our approach

 to Aristotelous Square

I would constantly stop to look at the wonderful buildings on our left

Bars and cafeterias all along this stretch, and they are always full: it's a favourite passtime for both locals and tourists to sit here

I spotted this on a balcony

We could see the White Tower in the distance

beautiful buildings and in between

side streets that are asking to be explored

We could see the White Tower, the hallmark of the city, quite clearly now

The present tower replaced an old Byzantine fortification, reconstructed to fortify the city's fortress some time around 1430. During the period of the Turkish occupation of Greece the tower became a notorious prison and the scene of numerous mass executions, most famously of the Janissaries who revolted during the reigh of Mahmud II.

The War of Independence against the Turks started in 1821 and slowly, Greece gained its independence. This did not happen in Thessaloniki until 1912. The tower was then substantially remodeled and its exterior was whitewashed. The White Tower has been adopted as the symbol of the city.

The gorgeous vaulted ceiling at the entrance. We did mean to go inside and climb to the top but every time we had various plans and kept putting it off. Never mind, next time.

We left the tower and walked back to the sea

on our left one of the many gardens in the area

Wide spaces and the sea beyond

looking back to where we had come from

The pirate ship that sails around the bay every hour

and here is the pirate himself

We did go on a tour with the Arabella on our last full day - it took an hour and it was fun

and the views of the city were good.

There is another boat that goes around the bay in the same way, alternating with the pirate boat

The statue of Alexander the Great

Another of the green spaces behind the statue

A trribute to the victims of the Tempi railway disaster.

On Feb. 2023, a head-on collision occured between two trains near the Tempe village. The collision, follow-up detailment and fireball that ensured killed 57 people;  81 were heavily injured. 

Massive demonstrations, vigils, angry protests and clashes with the police have been occuring throughout Greece since. The investigation has so far implicated 43 state officials but also those who failed to carry out the necessary upgrades to the system. Most worrying though is the fact that the Ministry of Infrastructure manipulated the site of the accident by 'landfilling' the site immediately after the rescue operation. This is the dominant reason why the protests continue.

Such a wide expanse of space

which is used for all kinds of activities: when we were there an event  about breast cancer was on which drew a lot of people

Lovely fountain and then, the umbrellas

George Zongopoulos, Umbrellas, 1988. (stainless steel)

The installation is 13 metres high and consists of 40 umbrellas.

We continued on our way

A sculpture in the sea

Looking closer

Another tribute to the Tempi disaster - many of the victims were students at Thessaloniki University who were travelling home to Athens

looking closer

This is such a pleasant walk. It's so easy to forget this is an urban area - we're in the middle of a major city

An avenue of trees

On our last full day we also hired one of those and pedalled to the concert hall and back

it was great fun.

Once we got to the concert hall during these walks we would then either retrace our steps or 

walk through one of the gardens

and head for the Tower where we would have soft drink

or head towards Yok Balik for lunch.