Thessaloniki is the second largest Greek city, and the centre of financial and commercial activity in Northern Greece. The site of an annual international trade fair, Thessaloniki has a long tradition in conferences and trade shows held at Helexpo Centre.

The metropolitan area has a total population of around 1,000,000, and lies in the bay of the Thermaic Gulf at the head of the Halkidiki peninsula. Although largely rebuilt in modern style, Thessaloníki still retains its famous white Byzantine walls, the 15th-century White Tower, and a Venetian citadel. The city is famous for its many fine churches, notably those of Hagia Sophia (modeled after its namesake in Istanbul and including fine mosaics), of St. George, and of St. Demetrius. The ruins of the triumphal arch of Emperor Constantine are there, in addition to a university.

The city has two universities: the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the largest university in Greece, and the University of Macedonia. In 2004, the city hosted some of the football events of the memorable 2004 Summer Olympics.

Activities

The city offers everything necessary to ensure its visitors a wonderful stay; theatres and music halls, museums and art galleries. Furthermore, Thessaloniki is synonymous with excellent food, good wine and intense nightlife. Throughout the city there are traditional tavernas and ouzeris (traditional eateries serving snacks and ouzo), side by side with elegant restaurants, first-class bars and clubs for a lively evening in town. The 80.000 university and technological institute students living in Thessaloniki contribute to the city’s unique youthful atmosphere, which is felt in all aspects of daily routine.

Transport

Thessaloniki is a transportation hub, connected with the rest of the world by air via its modern airport Macedonia, which guarantees comfortable and efficient transportation. In addition, a dense network of roads and railways serves domestic and European travel needs. However, most important in terms of local finance and history has always been the port of Thessaloniki, the natural gateway to sea for the Balkans and southeast Europe. The port of Thessaloniki is, today, the second most important in the country, and home to a significant number of vessels, both liner and cargo.   

Halkidiki

Halkidiki is a peninsula located roughly in the centre of Macedonia. The main peninsula flows into three smaller ones: Kassandra, Sithonia and Mount Athos - widely known as Agion Oros, the “Holy Mountain”. The 500 kilometres of coastline offer tremendous variation in landscape: long sandy beaches, dense vegetation and trees, impressive rocks and picturesque small bays. The sea waters of Halkidiki are some of the cleanest and clearest in Greece. The area has the beauty of the Aegean islands, with the advantage of access by road from the mainland.

Kassandra is the most popular of the three peninsulas, known for its expansive beaches, pinewoods and small villages. Because of it proximity to Thessaloniki, it is the most populated of the three peninsulas. Sithonia, the middle peninsula, is an example of nature’s beauty at its best. It has fine, sandy beaches, picturesque small harbours and peaceful fishermen's hamlets for visitors to enjoy all aspects of Greece. The peninsula of Mount Athos, considered "The Garden of Virgin Mary", has extraordinary natural beauty and it is a land dedicated to prayer and holy worship. A visit to Mount Athos is a visual and spiritual experience. The twenty monasteries of the Holy Mountain, dispersed on slopes fully covered with ancient evergreens, possess the greatest wealth in works of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art than any other place in Greece. Yet, what is most significant about the Holy Mountain is the fact that it expresses, in the most integral way, Orthodox monasticism. It is a thousand-year-old monastic State which has survived to this day.

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