The current Prefecture of Thessaloniki has been inhabited since the Prehistoric years.
After the foundation of Thessaloniki, this region’s of history is one and the same with that of the city, which has been especially rich realizing many conquerors and peaks of prosperity.
Thessaloniki was founded in 316 BC on the site of the old city of Thermi which gave its name to the Thermaic Gulf. Kassandros was its founder who also gave it the name of his consort, Thesaloniki, half-sister to Alexander the Great.
Due to its geographical position, Thessaloniki grew very fast and developed into being capital of the Macedonian state, gradually taking the leadership from Pella, the birth-city of the Macedonian Kings.
There are many who praised the beauty of this city also known as the bride of the Thermaic gulf.
Greece’s second city stands proudly at the cross-road between East and West. A very exceptional city which easily could be compared to Constantinople and Ravena in its wealth of Byzantine monuments.
Thessaloniki is ampitheatrically built on the slopes of the hill of Kedrinos (Seih Sou) and ends along the coasts of the Thermaic Gulf.
Kato Poli (lower city) stretches to the east reaching the harbor and is split into two by the installations of the Thessaloniki international Exhibition and the Park of the White Tower.
Each autumn and during the exhibition, Thessaloniki receives thousands of visitors from the whole of Greece and from abroad, justifying its fame as Balkan’s most significant economic and commercial center.
Our meeting with History starts at the WhiteTower, the city’s "trademark" and only remains left from its coastal harbor fortifications.
This circular building was built in the beginning of the 15th C. (around 1430) with a height of 37m, and was used as a prison for the Turkish fanatic Muslim-soldiers (Yenicerians).
Near the white Tower you can see the installations of the international Exhibition Center with the characteristically high tower of OTE (Hellenic Telecommunication Organization).
