Historic Cities · Greece
Thessaloniki through the ages
Thessaloniki is the second-largest city in Greece. It is the largest city of Northern Greece, with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, the capital of the geographic region of Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace.
Thessaloniki in 1200
Byzantine Thessalonica
Thessalonica in 1200 stands as the Byzantine Empire's great second city, its stone walls rising from the Thermaic Gulf to the citadel on the heights. The walk moves from the harbour and seaside walls through the Via Egnatia, past the Rotunda and Hagia Sophia to Hagios Demetrios and the autumn fair where foreign traders gather.
A hard, compact skyline of thick stone walls and squat towers climbs directly from the blue Thermaic Gulf to the citadel above; domes and brick church roofs punctuate a dense town of narrow alleys and packed clay-tiled houses. Main streets are broad, paved bands of the Via Egnatia and the Agora, while the harbour shows low quays and wooden storehouses. Colours are ochres, baked brick reds, pale marble and the glint of metal at merchant stalls; constant movement of carts, sailors and cloaked traders animates every quay and gate.
The walk — 21 streets, squares and views
Thermaic Gulf Approach → Skaptos Limen → Seaside Walls → Sea Gate → Arch of Galerius → Via Egnatia → Roman Forum (Agora) → Rotunda → Panagia Chalkeon → Hagia Sophia → …
Step inside — 13 interiors
Shipwright's Slip Hall · Imperial Mint Workshop · Rotunda's Mosaic Dome · Hagia Sophia Upper Galleries · Acheiropoietos Stone Nave · Silk Weaver's Loom Room · Covered Market Hall · Quay Warehouse Hold · Synagogue Prayer Hall · Saint Demetrios' Crypt · Marble Nave of Hagios Demetrios · Palace Staircase Hall · Citadel Audience Hall
Planned from the Wikipedia record: History of Thessaloniki.
Thessaloniki in 1900
Ottoman Salonica
Selânik at the turn of the century is an Ottoman Mediterranean port midway between tradition and modernisation: steamers and railway lines meet centuries of churches, mosques and a dominant Sephardic community. This walk follows the new quay and the busy city streets from the White Tower inward, past markets, tobacco stores, tramlines and the wooden houses of the upper town.
Against the Thermaic Gulf a low, long skyline of red tile roofs and pale-stucco facades is punctured by domes and numerous slender minarets. The waterfront is broad and flat with a gravel quay, gas lamps and tram rails; steamers lie at warehouses and masts glitter like a forest. Narrow streets inland open onto stone mosques, Byzantine monuments and dense markets; timber houses cling to the slopes of the Ano Poli above.
The walk — 22 streets, squares and views
Thermaic Gulf Approach → White Tower Quay → Steamship Quays → Railway Terminus → Ladadika Warehouses → Tobacco Wharfs → New Port Works → Kordon Promenade with Trams → Bezesten Covered Market → Hamza Bey Mosque, Egnatia → …
Step inside — 14 interiors
Quay Customs Inspection Room · Railway Arrivals Hall · Tobacco Storehouse Chamber · Tobacco Sorting Hall · Merchants' Stone‑vaulted Alley · Hamza Bey Prayer Hall · Main Steam Chamber · Warm Bathing Room · Rotunda Dome Chamber · Byzantine Nave Chamber · Reliquary Chapel · Sephardic Synagogue Sanctuary · Butchers' Great Hall · Printing Press Floor
Planned from the Wikipedia record: History of Thessaloniki.
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