I have left a little piece of my heart in lovely Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city, close to the border of Bulgaria.
Greek Orthodox Church at Thessaloniki train station. Credit Belinda Jackson
Mind you, I took away a couple of kilos thanks to its excellent dining scene, so it’s a fair trade, yes?
A mish-mash of architecture, one minute it is Greek, then next, Balkan, a third moment and its Ottoman past is showing. And then, its artistic, modern face smiles at me.
I wrote about Thessaloniki for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers’ Traveller section – to help you explore its food scene (the city gave the world Greece’s best-known street snack – the souvlaki skewers, the pita-gyro and even bougatsa. And it was the birthplace of frappe only the Greeks could make instant coffee taste so good).
I took a train from Athens to Thessaloniki – about five hours – with a little stop for lunch in the lovely university city of Larissa. And from there, I headed up into Bulgaria, to Sofia. For disclosure, I was a guest of Eurail, which supplies European rail passes that are simple to use. Check them out at eurail.com
And to read the article in the SMH/The Age, visit
https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/nine-must-do-highlights-of-thessaloniki-greece-20250113-p5l3sc.html
