Beautiful Thessaloniki: Two Days and Three Nights in This Lovely Northern Greek City

Our next stop on our journey through Eastern and Southern Europe was the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Although our ultimate destination was Kavala, also in Greece, the need for border crossings and multiple bus and bus station changes led us to spend a few days in Thessaloniki. I am very pleased we did.

We had a mid-afternoon bus from Skopje to Thessaloniki, but we had to vacate our apartment by 10 AM. We spent several hours hanging out in the food court at a nearby shopping center, followed by a couple more hours at a Japanese restaurant. Finally, it was time to catch a cab to the Skopje bus station and board our bus out of North Macedonia and into Greece.

The trip took about four hours, accounting for a one-hour time difference. The border crossing was somewhat lengthy, and we were intrigued to see both Macedonian and German border guards at the Macedonian checkpoint—the German guard was in full uniform, which was quite mysterious. At the Greek border, both AP and I were questioned because our passports showed we had been in the EU/Schengen zone longer than 90 days. However, we produced our French residency cards, so it wasn’t an issue. This experience did highlight how borders are tightening across the Eurozone.

We arrived in Thessaloniki around 8 PM and took a cab to our Airbnb, which was small but excellently located, close to everything. By the time we reached the apartment, it was about 9 PM, and we were tired, hot, and hungry. We had noticed a small restaurant further up the street and decided to dine there for convenience. Fortunately, in Greece, people eat late, so we had no trouble getting a table and ordering food after 9:30 PM. In fact, the restaurant didn’t fully fill up until well after 10 PM. This was quite a contrast to France, where arriving at a restaurant at 9:30 PM would not be welcomed.

The little restaurant spilled out onto the street, with tables set under fig trees strung with fairy lights, covered in checkered tablecloths. We enjoyed a delicious meal and a couple of glasses of local wine among the locals, all relishing their meals and the cooler evening. These moments are the reason I travel. Sure, ancient monuments, museums, churches, and other sights are interesting, but after a while, all churches, temples, and mosques start to look the same, and a town square in Bordeaux isn’t much different from one in Belgrade. It’s meals in restaurants like this, dining among locals, enjoying local food and wine, that offer the true travel experience.

Our two days in Thessaloniki were spent attending to a few tasks, such as getting a Greek SIM card and sorting our onward tickets. We also explored some of the city and wandered along the beautiful waterfront. Each night, we returned to the little restaurant up the road, dining on delicious food and soaking up the ambiance.

And then, just like that, our brief stay in Thessaloniki was over, and it was time to move on. We enjoyed Thessaloniki very much and will definitely be back.

Our next stop was Kavala, a port town further along the coast, where we planned to stay for a month.

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