Thessalonica is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of Greek Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace. Its nickname literally is "the co-capital", a reference to its historical status as the "co-reigning" city of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, alongside Constantinople.
The city's landmark is the White Tower, which dates back to the Venetian or early Ottoman period and was probably built by Venetian builders.
Buildings from the Roman period are the remains of the imperial palace with an octagon, the Arch of Galerius with relief depictions of scenes from the battles of Galerius against the Persians in 296/297, a rotunda, built in the 4th century perhaps as a mausoleum of Galerius, then an Orthodox church and later Mosque (remains of a minaret), now a museum.
Buildings from the Ottoman period include the Besesteni, a six-domed covered market that housed mainly cloth merchants and goldsmiths, Turkish baths (Hamama) such as the Giachounti Hamam, Bey Hamam, Pasha Hamam (Phoenix Hamam), the Hamsa-Bey-Tsami mosques, Alatsa-Imaret-Tsami and Yeni Cami (from 1902), the White Tower, Greek Lefkós Pýrgos, the birthplace of Atatürk and the Konak.
Several times, when leaving Camperstop Zampetas for Perea, we had been walking along the waterfront in Perea, again and again we were surprised by the play of colors during the sunset.
We met Martina, Sven and Clara for the first time on the premises of the camping outfitter Zampetas in Thessaloniki, because of course the Dodge pick-up vehicle, which had been converted into a motorhome, immediately caught our eye, so powerful was the structure and the vehicle itself.
One of the surviving buildings of Roman times in the ancient part of Thessalonica is the Rotunda of Galerius, which is probably the most impressive building in the town. The massive domed Roman brick art, which was established in connection with the Galerius triumphal arch located in the North of modern Egnatia road that leads through the center of the city.
After our first explorations in Thessaloniki, which gave us some unexpected aha experiences, it is time to take stock of our visit to Thessaloniki. We came across the cycle path network in an insightful and unexpected way, to name just one example.
Since its founding, Thessaloniki was located on the Via Egnatia, the main traffic and trade route between Rome and Byzantium, and on the northbound Balkan Road, which continued north past Stobi.
Once more we had set out on a tour of Thessalonica, had chosen the way along the city wall up to the fortress gates with acquaintances, had gone en route into a small cafe offering fresh, home-baked cakes and were then, after the passage of the Agora and the source sanctuary, walking along Via Egnatia into the city center.
Wood fibers have physico-mechanical properties that are unique as natural raw materials and materials.
Once again, there was an interesting and surprising meeting, this time it was a bright red fire truck, which had been converted into a camper.
Christmas is celebrated very traditionally in Greece, this we had heard already, and because of that were very surprised by the action of the young girls in the street art project Free Hugs in Alexandroupolis.
Our tours in Thessalonica had not only brought us into contact with the Roman cultural heritage, because the Byzantine era has left many traces too, as we will show in the following article and the attached picture gallery.
Bom dia! - Thus, the first contact with Andrea & John started, who were directly parking their camper next to us as guests on the pitch of Zampetas Camper Accessories in Thessaloniki / Perea.
Of course we wanted to participate in the development of the various age groups during the FC Barcelona Escola Soccer Camp in Thessalonica and so we joined into the training for a second afternoon for photographing and watching.
Once again our stay at the camper stop Zampetas in Thessalonica / Perea designed extremely entertaining, because Toni Zampetas asked us to photograph during a co-organized football camp as part of the FC Barcelona Escola Soccer Camps.
The Roman emperor C. Galerius Valerius Maximianus was born about 250 BC as the son of a peasant family near Sofia (Serdica; Dacia Ripensis).
We learned Julia and Davide, a couple from Germany with some family relations to Italy and Spain which wanted to learn same spots in Thessalonica for shopping as well as for sight seeing.
Again there was an interesting meeting, this time with Suse and Axel from Munich and their motor home Frieda expanded on the basis of a VW T3 - and this once again showed that the camper stop Zampetas has developed to a real cornerstone for travelers on the Balkans.
In the morning we had left again to explore Thessalonica, when we first moved from Camper stop Zampetas to the ferry in Perea, then "sail" towards the White Tower.
Couple of times we already had the request of friends or relatives who wanted to visit us for a few days us by plane and lightweight luggage during our tour.
After several days of exploration on Halkidiki and the Mount Olympus we needed to work up the last days on the computer and actualize the website in our "Office-caravan" urgently, a time which always brings new contacts to travelers by itself.
What we first noticed as a unique journey of a young couple with at least indeterminate finish, now shows almost like a fad: the camper tour to Iran. We had met with 7 camper-encounters on their way to Iran just during the last month, which leads our idea of uniqueness ad absurdum.