Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki lives facing the sea, and that is where the city gathers. The Thessaloniki Waterfront runs for kilometres, with benches turned to the gulf, cyclists and terraces open late. The White Tower of Thessaloniki stands at the end of it, round and stout, the last piece left of the harbour walls. Locals hold that the food here is the best in Greece: meze washed down with ouzo, sesame bread rings bought on a street corner, fish and spice stalls under the roof of the Modiano Market. Rome and Byzantium left their marks in the middle of town — the Arch of Galerius, the Rotunda of Galerius, the gold mosaics of the Church of Saint Demetrius. In the evening Aristotelous Square opens onto the water like a huge outdoor room. To the south Mount Olympus closes the horizon with its two thousand nine hundred metres, and the beaches of the Halkidiki Peninsula begin an hour away.