A Greek Food Tour – Thessaloniki Greece The Gem of The North

Thessaloniki Greece, the Northern Gem of Greece! A beautiful seaside city along the top of the Aegean Sea. Capitol of the Macedonian province of Greece and the second largest city in all of Greece. Presently and historically Thessaloniki is a trading crossroads and has been for nearly two millennium. With history that spans empires such as Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman.

With all that history comes all that food culture and in this video I will be taking you on a Greek Food Tour across the city while also stopping at several historical spots throughout the city. From Greek tavernas, to byzantine fortresses, to even a pirate ship bar. Come on this epic travel guide through the top attractions in Thessaloniki Greece.

Spots Including the White Tower, The Arch and Palace of Galerius, The Church of Agia Sofia, Roman Market, Bey Haman, Local Market and more…
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Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
2:30 – Breakfast in the park
4:50 – Central Market and Lunch
7:45 – Historical Walk Through Thessaloniki
15:35 – Drinks a Pirate Ship
18:55 – Dinner at a traditional Greek Taverna

Welcome to Thessaloniki all righty travel Dons welcome back to our gree series and this is actually the finale of specifically the grease series we’re still continuing our travels but we’re going to be going up into the Balkans after this next video we’ll be heading towards Sophia

Bulgaria but in the meantime we are in the beautiful Port City of Thessaloniki this is the second largest city in Greece and it has amazing history it’s different from the rest of Greece because it was not founded until 3:15 BC by the king I think his name was

Cassander of Macedonia so this is more Macedonian than it is Greek when it comes to the history of it a lot of history you of course you have a lot of Ottoman history Roman history I believe the city was actually named after thala the sister of Alexander the Great

So but anyway we’re going to explore this beautiful city uh and of course first all as always get something to Eat so spot number one here in theli that you really kind of got to check out is of course the main Square down by the Waterfront this is out delos square and this is of course got a couple of major hotels it’s got basically on all sides

Except on the water uh restaurants cafes bars shops you name it you got it this is kind of like the heart and hubub of Thessaloniki so like whenever you come down here even like right now it’s got Christmas lights on if you watch my last video you would have seen a bunch of

Like different uh Christmas themes going on so it’s very festive down here I’m sure even when this is not here during Christmas time it’s probably packed and it has been every night that I I have been here uh when I come down cuz I’m literally staying on the other side of

That building and I come down here every night and it’s just there’s so many people here it’s absolutely ridiculous but yeah so a first great stop you’re right off the water you can just literally cross the road and just kind of get views of the entire Bay in front

Of you so but anyway let’s continue On All right so if you are looking for a breakfast particularly a breakfast to go since we got a lot of ground to cover uh a good place is a place called Peach Boy it’s just kind of like a little coffee cafe uh that is only standing so you

Just kind of want to take it to go uh however I did get what in Greece is called a colori uh it’s it’s originally uh I believe autom is in it’s called cement in Turkish but anyway it’s just kind of like this sesame seed circular

Bread uh you can do lots of different uh to um fillings toppings with it however this one it looks like it’s got some form of cheese I don’t know if that’s a feta or a cream with a little bit of ham so we’re going to try this real

Quick simple but nice very good and of course little coffee to go with that good stuff all right so we started off in aristella square this is now further north up the path to aristotelis park and this is sort of the Central Park of all of fanik particularly this downtown

District uh so if you’re going to kind of meet up with anybody this is kind of where you want to go you have like a massive statue of I believe one of the old or the original Greek Statesmen when Greece became uh its own country again after the Ottoman Empire

And then of course there’s a lot of history around here too you have the Church of Virgin Mary the Greek Orthodox church over there uh you do have of course uh old uh ottoman Turkish ba baths I think they’re called the Beaman and then on the North side you also do

Have some Roman ruins I believe that is the Roman Forum of thesaloniki cuz there is a lot of history that melds into this area that is not specifically like Antiquity Greece it’s more a mixture of Macedon a mixure of Roman and of course a mixture of Ottoman and then grease from there so

But it’s a nice nice park to kind of like Center yourself and continue On so when you are visiting downtown Thal eni one thing to make sure that you do is to visit the markets and yes I mean plural cuz there are three different markets and three different types the main one in the first one that we’re at is capani market and this is

Kind of like the more traditional style Open Air Market there are there is some covering to an extent but this is kind of like the city market where you kind of go in you can get your you know your butchered meat your fish uh you have

Clothes and other shops as well but it’s that traditional sort of uh European style Greek uh style Market which is really really nice that the stuff I love you even come to these markets and along the way you’ll have little uh restaurants and cafes like we’re sitting

At one kind I think it’s called Uh STIs or something like that uh so we’re going to have some food in just a little bit for lunch but yeah this is the first Market we’re going to go hit two others cuz they’re each different in their own

Way but kapani Market is the first one to come this is more the traditional Market all right guys it’s lunchtime so uh what we’ve got here are two different dishes first off is going to be a salad which is called potiki and I think potiki is a mixture of cabbage carrots

Sweet red peppers herbs little lemon juice so looks really good they’ve even thrown some uh olives in there but we’ll go ahead and just kind of like get a nice bite of all That that’s an interesting flavor it’s almost kind of it’s not it’s not vinegary but it tastes almost pickled to an extent interesting I don’t know how I feel about it very fresh though I like the peppers in there but it’s got that weird pickle flavor pickle flavor and it’s like I

Didn’t see anything pickled on there that’s fascinating H well let’s try the sausage next all right so for the sausage which I believe it’s called zayas or zagas the pronunciation is a little tough but it’s that circular kind of sausage that you see in markets uh here

In grease all the time so we’re going to go and give that a try they put on a little kind of like uh mustard with a little bit of uh uh red chili flakes to go with that so okay now this isn’t my speed oh and the heat from the Red Pepper with

The mustard on there that’s really nice yeah the flavor that weird flavor of the salad little I like the freshness of it but the sausage Killer okay so the second of the three markets that we’re checking out here in central tesalan is behind me that is the bezen ottoman market so it’s in an old 15th century ottoman uh building I’m not sure if the building was initially a market or if it was used for other

Purposes however it is a market nowadays and it is very similar to the Greek market we were just at however it is all inside it is much smaller and there is much less produce but you can still get some produce but mainly it’s kind of more cloth uh you know jewelry things

Like that so there’s a lot of kind of cool stuff there and the prices are actually really really uh well affordable so I think even more so than the uh capani Market so so definitely check it out the building in of itself is really nice but if you are looking

For maybe some rugs or some uh some fabric to take home this is definitely a place to come to so before we leave the bezen ottoman Market I forgot to mention behind me here is called the Ken Cafe I had dinner there the other night amazing like the chef is from cits everything

There is uh of the kind of like cre Cuisine which unfortunately I didn’t get to go to on this trip so I’m glad that I actually went here to at least get a little taste of it like the lamb was amazing there was this cheese like this

Creat and cheese it’s kind of like goat spreadable that I put on the bread that was oh to die for it yeah everything that I had for dinner there was fantastic so I definitely check check out the ceton cafe near the bezen ottoman Market when you get the Chance And we are now at the third Market here in downtown Thessaloniki and this is called the agura medano and this is much more of the modern Market it’s a great place to come into particularly if you want something to eat it’s got a lot of different kind of like other bakeries or

Small uh eateries it does have you know wine shop you can kind of come in get what you need you can come up to the second uh floor here and kind of sit down and just relax and uh you know chill out have have have your food have

Your glass of wine or something like that so it’s really nice it’s a little bit more upscale than the other two but it serves its purpose and it’s a great place to come into particularly if the weather’s bad it’s fully covered great spot to come into and just kind of relax

So but yeah this is the third of the markets this is the agura Medano So a beautiful place and really a piece of architecture to explore while you’re here in Thessaloniki is the holy church of St Theodora and it’s kind of like a slightly walled off area and it’s got this beautiful little Courtyard that is just amazing and the structure of the uh

The Orthodox Church itself is fantastic inside lot of great beautiful artwork so definitely when you’re walking around it’s free to come in just check it out but yeah this is this is really nice I just like the inside enclosure uh in and of itself it just kind of adds to it

Almost like a little secluded area within the busyness of Thalin now when you’re done with the uh St teodora uh Church come down to this other church this is one of the major churches here in Thessaloniki and it’s a great historical spot to check out because behind me is the Haya sopia uh now that’s not the hagya Sophia of

Istanbul the famous one this is Talon’s hagya sopia and this is a 7th Century Church absolutely gorgeous inside great Greek Orthodox uh Christian art so definitely worth a check out all these churches are free to kind of go in you’re welcome to uh make a donation if

You like but it is a beautiful church and one of the oldest churches in not just the seleni but I think in Greece when it comes to the Christian faith uh also right down the street across from here on the back side of the cathedral is a great brunch place called Estrella

I went there the other day and I had a breakfast pizza which was fantastic so yeah definitely recommend check this historical place out and then go get a breakfast pizza at Estrella [Applause] Okay so while you’re touring around felan Niki there are two major historical points I want you guys to check out outside of what we’ve already done but specifically these two uh the first one being the Palace of garius um that was the emperor garus he was part

Of the uh tetrarchy when Roman Empire was kind of split up in between four uh Emperors after the death of day oian I think I got my history right on that one let me know if I got that wrong but anyway um it’s the the ruins of the palace are relatively relatively intact

It’s actually really kind of cool I think during the on season you can go and check them out out and go into the ruins uh but even still from the outside you can see pretty much most of it the second one though and this is the big

One is called the White Tower of fiki and this is probably in most pictures if you ever see fiki uh and it’s right off the Waterfront it is uh it is I think it’s a mixture of a Byzantine and ottoman Tower because its history I think starts around the 12th 13th

Century being built by the byzantines and eventually finished by the Ottomans when the Ottomans took over cuz its completion was in the 15th century under ottoman Rule and it you want to talk about views you get views from this place so it’s a little bit of a ways up it’s

About three EUR to come into um but along the way each floor has different sort of like histories of Thessaloniki and not just specifically the White Tower but of the entire region and it really kind of goes into it it gives you like an audio guide and everything uh

But once you get to the top you just get these stunning views of the bay and the city the mountains it is well worth the3 um particularly since you basically download the guid to tour I guess you take it with you cuz it’s a PDF on my

Phone now so you can listen to it at any time but it is a really really cool historical spot so yeah when you are touring around felin those two in particular you want to check Out or going too MES after you’re done with the White Tower come down right to the Waterfront and head to this boat right here that is the Arabella Cruise pirate ship bar so let’s uh hop aboard and uh get our pirate On Okay that little 30-minute Cruise was one of my favorite things I’ve done so far in Greece that was absolutely epic I mean it’s it’s it’s a remodeled uh pirate ship so you know it’s it’s kind of like a fun attraction but you go on it’s a 30-minute Cruise it is

Technically a bar so you can go in and you can order a drink or you can pay5 to just kind of take the cruise either way so it’s it’s not that expensive and I think most drinks go anywhere from 5 to €0 anyway so either way you’re just

Paying five maybe 10 at Max uh for a cocktail and it comes with the boat ride so you just kind of get like a nice 30 minute uh cruise around the thelan key Bay get great views of the Waterfront from the water and right now during the Christmas season they were just playing

Non-stop Christmas music so it was Christmas carols with you know with a drink and just a nice little kind of like 30 minute boat ride around the bay it’s really kind of a cool unique attraction here in Thal all right so now that you’re done with the White Tower and the cruise ship bar honestly just come down Southeast of that along the major Waterfront here and this is the Thessaloniki Alexander Waterfront that goes all the way down it’s about several miles long cuz it

Goes all the way down towards like the end of the city uh you do have of course the statue of Alexander of Macedon sort of as the start of the major Waterfront but it’s really nice it’s got fountains it’s got people that are like generally out biking scooters people that are

Playing uh instruments singing you know it’s just it’s a fun place to kind of come to and it’s a beautiful Waterfront cuz you just get these views of the entire Bay and yeah like I was down here pretty much both days that I’ve been here uh I’ve taken a little walk down

And it’s great even at nighttime I mean this City’s relatively pretty safe it is really really nice place to just kind of come to and [Applause] enjoy all right so I’m going to take a quick break and then I will see you guys outside in a little bit for dinner and it’s dinner Time you know I’m kind of sad that this dinner is happening I mean the dinner is going to be absolutely fantastic but this is my final dinner in Greece on this trip you know after this I move up into Bulgaria and I’ve had a great amazing five weeks

Like specifically Athens you know I was there for a month but even this week between Thessaloniki and Lisa and the day trips I took outside of Athens I am so coming back to Greece specifically to really get into the islands and to also explore more of the ppines at some point

In time but for this trip man it’s just the fact I’m going to be missing all of this delicious food can’t get Greek food in the United States like you can hear oh it’s just so fresh and so good so I’m waiting for the main dish but got myself nice little

Cucumber and tomato salad I’ve got to learn a recipe to do this as well just cuz like it’s not just tomatoes and cucumbers obviously the Greek salad you put fet cheese on to but this is just the cucumbers and tomatoes with some onions but like they toss it up with a little

Bit olive oil and just a little bit of like herb seasoning on there and then this is one of the biggest things well it’s probably a good thing I’m leaving because of this delicious all these delicious peita breads that I’ve been having that have probably been bad

For my weight but oh my God fresh made God damn that’s good all right now for the main dish okay so for the main dish we are going out of Grease with a bag so basically got this massive plate by the way we’re at a place called

Kataka it’s a couple blocks uh in kind of like off the main strip and it’s kind of in this uh mainly pedestrian area which is really nice there’s a lot of different restaurants and cafes in this area it’s a little bit more quiet but this Beast of a plate is just like fried

Egg on top of chips with uh sausage and there’s also shredded Creon cheese in there it’s like it’s a massive plate it’s like holy crap it’s like I don’t even know where to start so just grab a little potato with some cheese and dip it in the egg and stuff with the sausage

There let’s just take a big old bite oh my God the flavor of that sausage oh wow that is really good and cheese is also really nice A little bit of fried egg yolk to kind of soften that up But that’s so good and of course no Greek dinner is finished without the dessert and they just brought me out this dessert that looks very good I’m not exactly sure what it is it’s very very jiggly so I can’t tell if it’s like a cheesecake or something or but either

Way let’s give it a try oh comes off almost very spongy oh that’s good it’s like the top tastes like Jello-O that’s interesting it’s like very spongy and tastes like jello on top it’s good it’s just I was not expecting that huh well excuse me while I pick Out all righty guys so that is going to be the end of this particular video and unfortunately the the end of my true travels here in Greece the next video will technically start here cuz I’ll Showcase from when I leave from here to go to Sophia Bulgaria but this is the

End of all of my full videos in Greece these five weeks have been absolutely amazing like there’s so much more I wanted to do but you know here your budget traveling and there was there is other uh things that came about that honestly I’m you know I’m traveling during the offseason time so

Particularly when it comes to the Islands getting to the islands at this time of the year during November December it’s a little bit harder and there’s not much to do comparable to when you’re there from you know April through October so but you know this is

My time to uh to travel so hey at least it’s cheaper but anyway guys I hope you guys enjoyed this video of thesaloniki it’s an amazing City if you have any questions that uh the video didn’t answer go ahead and leave those in the comments below and of course if you like

The video give it a big old thumbs up and of course hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already what are you waiting for and hit that notification Bell also if you want to help support the travels and any other future travels going on I do have a patreon page and a

Buy me a coffee account as well and I do so appreciate all the support so but anyway guys until we meet again peace out and have a great Night