A Wonderful Visit to Thessaloniki, Greece tourist attractions with Viking Cruise

Author: Janice Vazquez | Last updated: November 26, 2023

A large circular tower made of white stones with holes sporadically places near the top. Trees and grass surround the white tower — *The White Tower stands as a national symbol of the city, Thessaloniki.*

On the 3rd day of the 10-day Viking Greek Odyssey Cruise, I arrived in Thessaloniki, Greece. I booked the complimentary shore excursion known as Scenic Thessaloniki, where I visited the White Tower, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Trigonion Tower, and Church of Saint Demetrius.

As I made my way to the first tourist attraction, the tour guide Evi gave a nice overview of Thessaloniki. In Greek, Thessaloniki means the “victory of the Thessalians”. Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by King Cassander of Macedonia and was named after Alexander the Great daughters who was married to a Macedonian king. The tour guide mentioned a couple of interesting facts such as:

2nd largest city in Greece
Population is over 317,000 people.
Industrial and commercial center

Visiting the Wonders of Thessaloniki from Your Cruise Ship? Click Here for Insider Tips and Must-Knows for Your Adventure!

White Tower

My first stop was the White Tower, a cylindrical stone tower monument and museum. I discovered that the tower was built by the Ottomans in the 15th century as a means of protecting the harbor. Later it served as a prison. After Greece took back Thessaloniki from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War in 1912, the White Tower was remodeled and repainted white, which gave it its current name. Today, the White Tower stands as a national symbol of the city, serving as a reminder of its rich history.

Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki

I walked for 5 minutes to second tourist attraction, the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki. I spent 90 minutes walking around the museum with the tour guide who explained the significant artifacts. I started off in the most important part of the museum, the gold section. I learned the gold pieces were found in different areas in the Macedonian region and were a symbol of economic power.

Information panel that shows the Map of Gold in the Ancient World. The countries are in blue and pictures of gold are placed where the it can be found at the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki — *Map of Gold in the Ancient World*

The king decorated everything with gold from furniture to weapons such as helmet and armory to clay vessels, coins, and clothes. I enjoyed looking at the gold wreaths, which were a religious symbol indicating social status. The gold wreaths belonged to the aristocracy, who wore them at symposiums, religious ceremonies, and accompanied them to their graves.

Helmet made of bronze and gold in the background and gold sheets in the foreground at the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki — *Macedonian Helmet*

a wreath painted gold with a black backdrop at the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki — *Macedonian Golden Wreath*

I also saw the Derveni Crater, which was a marvelous vase.

The light brown colored vase is engraved with sculptures of people on the side of the vase at the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki — *Derveni Crater – a vase for mixing wine and water*

Information panel about the Derveni Crater. The description is four paragraphs long and includes diagram of where they found the vase at the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki — *Information panel about the Derveni Crater.*

Lastly, I saw a Macedonian tomb and beautiful mosaic.

A white stone door with bronze circular decorations lined up in parallel to one another at the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki — *Facade of an ancient Macedonian tomb from the 4th BC*

The Mosaic with holes depicts the arrival of Dionysus and his followers in Naxos and the discovery of Ariadne at the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki — *The Mosaic depicts the arrival of Dionysus and his followers in Naxos and the discovery of Ariadne*

After the guided tour, I explored the museum on my own for 15 minutes. Overall, I really enjoyed visiting the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki because there was so much history and artifacts. The information panels were also in English, which made it easy to understand what the artifacts were about. After the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, I boarded the bus and proceeded to the next tourist attraction.

Trigonion (Chain) Tower

The bus dropped us off at the third tourist attraction, the Trigonion tower. From here, I was able to take pictures of Thessaloniki. It was an incredible view. I walked around the byzantine walls and saw the cemeteries for Catholics and Armenians and St. Paul’s Church.

Stone walls with a large half circle in the center that serves as an entrance for cars to drive through the Trigonian Tower — *Byzantine Walls*

Thessaloniki on a sunny day where you can see houses and buildings at the Trigonian Tower — *View from Byzantine Walls*

Church of Saint Demetrius

For the fourth tourist attraction, I visited the Church of Saint Demetrius. The church is one of the oldest Christian Byzantine churches that was built in the 5th century AD. Inside the church, I marveled at the Byzantine mosaics that depict Agios Dimitrios and the children of the city.

Inside the church are wooden chairs, decorative red and white rug, white walls, and a large chandelier at the Church of Saint Demetrius — *Interior*

I also went down to the basement to visit the Crypt, which housed intriguing exhibits featuring sculptures and vessels that survived the 5th century fire.

Tip: The Church of Saint Demetrius is filled with tourists and people who pickpockets, so keep your items close to your body.

After the Church of Saint Demetrius, the bus dropped me off at the cruise terminal. For the afternoon, I booked a car rental from Hertz, so I immediately went back out to pick up the car (click here to read about our adventure driving to the Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aigai).

Overall, the cruise tour was incredible! Evi was the best guide I could ask for; she was passionate and informative about all the tourist attractions we visited.

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Thessaloniki on a sunny day where you can see houses and buildings

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