Raise your hand if you have the same question!
Thessaloniki is the second-largest city in Greece and currently promoted as a new travel destination city in Greece.
Actually, this city was not in my destination list and I visited this place purely because of Ryan Air. I really had no idea what kind of this city is and I found only little information about the travel destination in this city. That is why I eager to write some information about Thessaloniki, since you might have to visit this city if you are going to use Ryan Air.
First thing to note down - the Ryan Air's flight to Greece is often stopped in the International Airport Macedonia. This airport is 40 minutes away from the Thessaloniki city center. From the airport, you could take bus 78 and pay for less than a Euro. (Everything is cheap in Greece!) And for your information, you have to use your instinc to decide where you have to stop - because the information about the next bus stop is delivered by those mightly Greek language. If you are like me, you would not be able to know what they are saying! Hahaha.
BUT, you must be grateful that I am sharing this to you, so you could arrive safely in the city center, or the train station.
My suggestion, you better go straight to the train station to buy your train ticket. Because there is a case when the train ticket goes sold out. Afterwards, you could either walk or take a bus from train station to Aristotle square, or Tsimiski.
The next thing you should know is the location of Thessaloniki. Well, do not be surprised, but Thessaloniki is quite far from Athena - it is . . . 7 hours away from Athens. Does not it look quite . . . scary? No? Okay, it is only me then.
In the beginning, I doubted whether it is possible to go to Athena from Thessaloniki - because I have no idea what kind of transportation I could use! To be noted, the public transportation in Greece somehow does not as good as in Germany. In addition, the country is not as safe as in Germany - so, a 7 hours journey? Let me think it over again and after rounds of browsing - finally I found this!
There IS night train connecting Thessaloniki and Athens. So, you depart at 11 or 12 PM from Thessaloniki train station and arrive in Athens at 7 AM. And vice versa. Depart at 11 PM from Athens and arrive in Thessaloniki at 7 AM. It is such a perfect schedule!
Even to add more perfectness (is it an english word?), the train ticket costs only 28 Euros (in 2012)- and for student, we could the special price - which is around 20 Euros for a one way trip. BUT, do not forget to mention that that you are a student to the ticket officer, otherwise you would not get the special price. :)
The train is quite comfortable - even it looks quite scary from the outside, but the inside is good enough for you to spend a night there. Just keep in mind that you buy a seated number, so you could not sit anywhere - but should follow the seat number in your ticket. It is actually another problem, because it is quite hard to know where your seat is. So, here is the step to find your seat number in the train.
This number tells you which carriage (? in Indonesia it is "gerbong") the location of your seat is. To know this number, well . . . you have to COUNT from the first carriage until your carriage number. I have no idea whether there is a sign number in each carriage, but I could not find any sign when I took the train.
Once you know which one is your carriage, just simply enter it and search for your seat number. IF you spot another person sits in your seat number, asks them about their ticket - because it could be that he is wrong, or you miss your counting. :p
It is always the safest to ask the officer whenever you are in trouble - for this case, find your compartment or perhaps, to read your ticket. So, you could simply show your train ticket to the officer and he will help you to count the carriage. :)
Okay, so I assume that you have known the basic knowledge to survive in Thessaloniki. So, it is time for us to having fun somewhere in Thessaloniki - remember, this city is currently promoted as a travel destination.
Tourists Spots
1. The White Tower
This is the first thing you will find whenever you google about travel destination in Thessaloniki. It is actually a historical monument and a museum of Byzantine Culture.
You could find many tourists and locals spend their time to enjoy the view of Aegean sea. Also, there are boat restaurants waiting in the small pier nearby the White tower. These boats will depart 30 minutes before the sunset. From the boat you could change how the night completely change the atmosphere of Thessaloniki. :)
2. Aristotlelous Square
This is Thessaloniki's most famous area. You could find a lot of restaurants, souvenir shops, cafe, and bar. But, be careful with your things as there are many immigrants trying to sell souvenirs, parfumes, etc to you.
3. Tsimiski and Egnatia
These are the main streets in the city center of Thessaloniki. You could find hundreds of accecories, clothing, jewelry, shoes shops and manyy more along this streets. Do not hesitate to buy clothes, skirts, etc in Thessaloniki, because it is WAAAAY cheaper than in Athens.
4. Terkenlis
For pastry lovers - you should buy pastries, breads, or whatever you could find in Terkenlis. BUT, pastry is a must! A bite - or you will regret it later. :p
5. Souvlaki in . . .
This is my hidden treasure in Thessaloniki. The best souvlaki shop ever! Until now, I could not find out what is the name of this shop - but fortunately, I took picture of it. So, maybe you could tell me how to read this.
To find this store, you have to find Agias sofias. From this place, you walk until you find this brown colored building on the right side and a cross junction in front.
You turn right and walk straight until you find another road on your left. Turn left and if you are lucky, you have arrived in this small souvlaki's restaurant. :)
6. Late night entertainment?
SOOO, I discovered that Thessaloniki is actually famous with its night life. It turns out that all restaurants along the seawall nearby the Aristotlelous square will be ALIVE when the night comes.
7. Get out from the city
If you have enough time, you could go to visit Meteora - a wonderful temple at the top of cliff. However, the journey is a little bit, erm long and complex. The easiest way to go to Meteora is by renting a car, even though there are buses and trains.
I could not share too much information, because I could not visit this place (even my heart bleeds because of it). You could refer to this website to get more information about Meteora.
Thessaloniki is the second-largest city in Greece and currently promoted as a new travel destination city in Greece.
 |
| The white tower at night |
Actually, this city was not in my destination list and I visited this place purely because of Ryan Air. I really had no idea what kind of this city is and I found only little information about the travel destination in this city. That is why I eager to write some information about Thessaloniki, since you might have to visit this city if you are going to use Ryan Air.
 |
| International Airport Macedonia |
First thing to note down - the Ryan Air's flight to Greece is often stopped in the International Airport Macedonia. This airport is 40 minutes away from the Thessaloniki city center. From the airport, you could take bus 78 and pay for less than a Euro. (Everything is cheap in Greece!) And for your information, you have to use your instinc to decide where you have to stop - because the information about the next bus stop is delivered by those mightly Greek language. If you are like me, you would not be able to know what they are saying! Hahaha.
BUT, you must be grateful that I am sharing this to you, so you could arrive safely in the city center, or the train station.
- If you want to stop in the city center, you could stop wherever WHEN the bus crosses the road full of clothing stores, or if you could spot the sign Terkenlis on the left side. For your info, this road is called Tsimiski and if you stop nearby the Terkenlis, it only takes 5 minutes walk to go to Aristotlelous square.
 |
| Terkenlis in Tsimiski street |
- If you want to stop in the train station, it is easier - because the train station is the last stop for most of buses in Thessaloniki. Even if you want, you could say "train station" to anyone near you and they should be able to understand that you are going to the train station and tell you where to stop. BUT, if you are too scare to say anything, just observe the road and if you could see a building with OSE sign - that is the train station!
 |
| OSE - Train station in Thessaloniki |
My suggestion, you better go straight to the train station to buy your train ticket. Because there is a case when the train ticket goes sold out. Afterwards, you could either walk or take a bus from train station to Aristotle square, or Tsimiski.
The next thing you should know is the location of Thessaloniki. Well, do not be surprised, but Thessaloniki is quite far from Athena - it is . . . 7 hours away from Athens. Does not it look quite . . . scary? No? Okay, it is only me then.
 |
| Thessaloniki to Athena |
In the beginning, I doubted whether it is possible to go to Athena from Thessaloniki - because I have no idea what kind of transportation I could use! To be noted, the public transportation in Greece somehow does not as good as in Germany. In addition, the country is not as safe as in Germany - so, a 7 hours journey? Let me think it over again and after rounds of browsing - finally I found this!
There IS night train connecting Thessaloniki and Athens. So, you depart at 11 or 12 PM from Thessaloniki train station and arrive in Athens at 7 AM. And vice versa. Depart at 11 PM from Athens and arrive in Thessaloniki at 7 AM. It is such a perfect schedule!
Even to add more perfectness (is it an english word?), the train ticket costs only 28 Euros (in 2012)- and for student, we could the special price - which is around 20 Euros for a one way trip. BUT, do not forget to mention that that you are a student to the ticket officer, otherwise you would not get the special price. :)
 |
| Train Schedule Source : Matt Barret's Greece Travel Guide |
- First, find your compartment number.
This number tells you which carriage (? in Indonesia it is "gerbong") the location of your seat is. To know this number, well . . . you have to COUNT from the first carriage until your carriage number. I have no idea whether there is a sign number in each carriage, but I could not find any sign when I took the train.
- Second, search for your seat number
Once you know which one is your carriage, just simply enter it and search for your seat number. IF you spot another person sits in your seat number, asks them about their ticket - because it could be that he is wrong, or you miss your counting. :p
- Third, if any problem persists, ask the train officer.
It is always the safest to ask the officer whenever you are in trouble - for this case, find your compartment or perhaps, to read your ticket. So, you could simply show your train ticket to the officer and he will help you to count the carriage. :)
Okay, so I assume that you have known the basic knowledge to survive in Thessaloniki. So, it is time for us to having fun somewhere in Thessaloniki - remember, this city is currently promoted as a travel destination.
Tourists Spots
1. The White Tower
This is the first thing you will find whenever you google about travel destination in Thessaloniki. It is actually a historical monument and a museum of Byzantine Culture.
 |
| The white tower |
You could find many tourists and locals spend their time to enjoy the view of Aegean sea. Also, there are boat restaurants waiting in the small pier nearby the White tower. These boats will depart 30 minutes before the sunset. From the boat you could change how the night completely change the atmosphere of Thessaloniki. :)
2. Aristotlelous Square
This is Thessaloniki's most famous area. You could find a lot of restaurants, souvenir shops, cafe, and bar. But, be careful with your things as there are many immigrants trying to sell souvenirs, parfumes, etc to you.
3. Tsimiski and Egnatia
These are the main streets in the city center of Thessaloniki. You could find hundreds of accecories, clothing, jewelry, shoes shops and manyy more along this streets. Do not hesitate to buy clothes, skirts, etc in Thessaloniki, because it is WAAAAY cheaper than in Athens.
4. Terkenlis
For pastry lovers - you should buy pastries, breads, or whatever you could find in Terkenlis. BUT, pastry is a must! A bite - or you will regret it later. :p
 |
| It is unbelievably DELICIOUS! |
5. Souvlaki in . . .
This is my hidden treasure in Thessaloniki. The best souvlaki shop ever! Until now, I could not find out what is the name of this shop - but fortunately, I took picture of it. So, maybe you could tell me how to read this.
To find this store, you have to find Agias sofias. From this place, you walk until you find this brown colored building on the right side and a cross junction in front.
 |
| Find this building on your right |
You turn right and walk straight until you find another road on your left. Turn left and if you are lucky, you have arrived in this small souvlaki's restaurant. :)
6. Late night entertainment?
SOOO, I discovered that Thessaloniki is actually famous with its night life. It turns out that all restaurants along the seawall nearby the Aristotlelous square will be ALIVE when the night comes.
 |
| The night view of Aristotlelous square from the boat |
7. Get out from the city
If you have enough time, you could go to visit Meteora - a wonderful temple at the top of cliff. However, the journey is a little bit, erm long and complex. The easiest way to go to Meteora is by renting a car, even though there are buses and trains.
I could not share too much information, because I could not visit this place (even my heart bleeds because of it). You could refer to this website to get more information about Meteora.
***
Okay, that is all the information I could share to you from Thessaloniki.
Have a pleasant journey in Thessaloniki! :)
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