Thessaloniki

Greece

Things to do in Thessaloniki:

View the Gallery The White Tower

Thessaloniki Restaurants

Affordable (43)

Ladokolla stin Platia

Unlike most of the ouzeris that cluster around Platia Navarinou, this simple taverna specialises in tenderly grilled meat served up on greaseproof paper, as indicated by the establishment's name. read more
Fine dining (36)

Kivotos ton Yefseon

The name, which means "the Ark of Flavours", hints at how traditional recipes are preserved and presented with fresh ingredients in a classy dining room adorned with old film screenshots. read more

Thessaloniki Nightlife

Chilled (40)

Aigli

An atmospheric spot for an early-evening cocktail or coffee in part of a converted Turkish hammam, which also doubles up as an outdoor cinema during the summer months. read more
Clubbing (40)

Ta Kefia

One of the best central clubs in which to get a taste of various styles of quality Greek music from rembetika to entekhno, in a friendly place with rustic decor. read more

This Month in Thessaloniki:

By Nick Edwards

Shopping: If you're in need of a quality timepiece or want to augment your jewellery collection, then Roubini (59 Egnatia, tel: 2310 260 602) is a good place to hunt for watches, earrings, necklaces and such like.

Sightseeing: The bizarre pagan Anastenaria Firewalking Festival, when participants walk on live coals in a trance, takes place in Langada, on the outskirts of the city, from 21-23 May.

Thessaloniki News & Gossip

Thessaloniki Street Art

Amid ancient ruins and domed churches, a two-wheeled revolution is taking place in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Following in the tyre prints of the Canadian Good Bike Project, which turns old bicycles into monuments, this city's rusty, old two-wheelers are being given a very colourful revamp instead of being thrown on the scrapheap.

Known as The Re-cycling Project, this is street art with a difference. "We want to motivate people to volunteer to transform their town in the simple way of giving life to old objects," explains Kostis Kotsonis, the group's co-founder. Thus, the old rattlers are painted in a rainbow of colours - green represents the lack of green spaces in the city, for example, and orange the city's hotspots - while flowers are planted in the bikes' baskets, bringing a touch of nature to the urban landscape. the-recycling-project.tumblr.com

Thessaloniki Trivia

May: In August 1917, over three quarters of the old town burnt to the ground in a cataclysmic fire leaving more than 70,000 people homeless and decimating businesses.
April: Famous British writer and artist Edward Lear drew the city's Arch of Galerius in 1848.
March: In 1913, less than a century ago, almost three quarters of the city's population were Jews and Muslims who lived within the confines of the old city walls.