Thessaloniki hotels

Thessaloniki, Greece's Northern Capitol Thessaloniki, commonly known as Salonika, rests near the alluvial plain formed by the Axios and Aliakmon Rivers in the Greek state of Macedonia. It is the second largest city in Greece and certainly one of the most interesting. Surrounded by a city wall of mainly Venetian origin, the modern city grew out of the terrible fire of 1917 when most of the old section near the sea was destroyed. The new city has been laid out using city planning and is quite attractive. Old Thessaloniki was a city of great diversity. Until the German occupation of Greece during World War II it was home to a large Ladino-speaking Jewish community; it was an important city in the Ottoman Empire and the center of an Ottoman administration in Northern Greece; it was home to a large Macedonian, Greek, Bulgarian and Albanian population. Greece only occupied Thessaloniki in October 12, 1912 when it got there just before the Bulgarian army; King George I was killed during the triumphal entry of the Greek army in March, 1913. Thessaloniki is the birth place of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Modern Turkey as well as the Young Turk movement of the early 1900s. Ataturk's home, a lovely remnant of the old town now lies on the grounds of the Turkish consulate. The city, once a sea of mosques and minarets, is now a marvelous museum of Byzantine and later Greek Orthodox churches, the most important of which is St. Demetrios, the city's patron saint. Though gutted in the 1917 fire, the church has been lovingly restored over the years and is in full use. The main east-west street is the Via (Odos) Egnatia which closely follows the ancient Roman road from Durres in Albania to Constantinople (Istanbul) in the east. There are many shops along the street; in addition one of the oldest Christian structures in the city the Panayia Akheiropoietos. The road leads to the east to the Arch of Galerius, celebrating a Roman victory in 297 AD, and further on Ayios Yeoryios with its solitary minaret. The city is the center of learning in Northern Greece with the University of Thessaloniki as its most important educational institution. Along the sea walk is the White Tower, now a Byzantine Museum; the Archaeological Museum houses a fine collection of objects found in Northern Greece, including many from the tombs of the Macedonian Kings.