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Salonica or Thessaloniki as the Greeks call it, the second-largest city of Greece, once was the second-largest city of Byzantium. Its port was the eastern terminal of the Roman Via Egnatia trade route that crossed the Balkans to reach the Adriatic Sea at Durres, now in Albania. Salonica's main avenue is called Via Egnatia.
Salonica was occupied by the Ottoman Turks from 1430 to 1912. The Orthodox religion was tolerated by the Ottoman Muslims in sharp contrast with the previous Muslim empires (Umayyad - Damascus 661-750, Abbasid -Baghdad 750-1258), whose customary practice was to force conquered infidels to convert to Islam under the penalty of death just like the Spanish conquistadors imposed the Catholic religion later in the Americas.
I would have liked to visit one or two of the Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos
that not only survived but prospered during the Turkish occupation, but getting permission
was too complicated and it involved four days of trekking so I gave it a pass.
Thanks to this tolerance, we now find ancient Orthodox churches in Salonica along with Roman ruins and fine examples of Ottoman architecture.
The Arch of Galerius shown here was erected to commemorate the victories of Caesar Galerius Valerius Maximianus over the Persians in 296-297 following which, he made Salonica his capital.
The Rotunda, built to be the mausoleum of Galerius in 305, was converted into a church dedicated to St George in the mid-fifth century and was used later as a mosque by the Turks who added the minaret that is presently being repaired.
The Ayia Sofia (Holy Wisdom) church was built in the seventh century over a 5th century basilica. Its plain exterior is compensated by great mosaics and frescoes created inside between the 8th and 12th centuries.
The White Tower, built by Sultan Murad II in 1430 on the site of an earlier Byzantine tower, is now a museum showing items from Byzantine and Ottoman times.
Unfortunately I did not note the name of this hammam built by the Turks on via Egnatia not far from the church on the next photo.
Neither did I write down the name of this church next to the hammam on via Egnatia. I generally find info I need such as this in published documentation but not this time...
This church near the Rotunda had a sign "Agiou Giorgiou". It was very confusing since the nearby Rotunda is also dedicated to St-George.
There are not only old churches, here is a modern one, just across the street from the Byzantine Museum on Tsimiski St.
By now it was already the end of May and the tourist season had begun. I did not find the people particularly friendly and one woman shook her fist at me for taking a picture of her stall in the market on Kastritsiou street.
The two museums, archaeological and Byzantine, on Tsimiski St were however really worth visiting. After a couple of days, I flew to Rhodes.
