Sept 3rd, Thessaloniki White Tower

9/3       Tuesday

We take a stroll through the city to get ourselves oriented a bit. There’s a busy main boulevard a few blocks from us, and a grand pedestrian avenue that reaches to the waterfront. We see the covered marketplace, so of course we need to walk through. It’s one of the most impressive we’ve seen. The vendors are all mixed together. Someone sells olives next to chicken, next to t shirts, next to fish, next to housewares, next to carpets, next to fruits. Everything looks luscious, colorful and delicious. We have to buy some olives, gleaming like jewels. The vendor puts together and assortment and charges us two Euros. I think we’d pay about ten dollars for as much at Wegman’s. We gape at the fish stalls, boxes and boxes of bright, fresh fish. The butchers work like surgeons, cutting great haunches of beef into filets. We stop at a little café for some tea while we sample our olives.

Continuing on to the waterfront, we find a beautiful view, but not much else. The sidewalk stretches out along the pier in the blazing sun. The industrial port is farther away, and the level of commerce has slowed tremendously during the economic austerity.

We move inland by a block or so, finding a Fifth Ave. kind of shopping scene. Boutiques and Designers, all very high-end. Obviously, not everyone is broke, not the women walking along with their full shopping bags.

We arrive at the city’s landmark, the White Tower, a stocky stone citadel on the harbor, once used as a prison, now a museum of the city’s history with a big view at the top. The museum exhibits are laid out through the tower’s five floors. Our English audio guide gives us the highlights. It’s not an elaborate museum. Most of the exhibits look like they come from a newspaper archives, projected photos and film clips. It is, however, very interesting to learn about the city’s development through the centuries, so we enjoy it all as we climb to the open turret for a view of the sea and the city on the hills around us.

1 Video Included

Thessaloniki White Tower