Trigonion tower
The golden balcony — city, gulf and Olympus.
Damian Pankowiec — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nurserra — CC BY-SA 4.0
Ano Poli is the Thessaloniki that survived: the Great Fire (1917) ate the lower city, rebuilt in straight streets — but the upper town stayed as it had been for centuries: winding Ottoman lanes, timber houses with jutting floors, small squares with pebble cafés, Byzantine walls embracing it all. Its crown is the Heptapyrgion — the Byzantine-Ottoman fortress of seven towers on the summit (an ill-famed prison until 1989, sung in rebetiko) — and Trigonion tower on the eastern wall is the city's golden balcony: sunset here is Thessaloniki's first rite, the city falling to the gulf below, Olympus burning. Between them the Vlatadon monastery (14th century) keeps peacocks and the view where Paul is said to have preached — and getting lost in the lanes is the activity itself: ride up by bus or taxi and walk down: the only merciful direction.
The golden balcony — city, gulf and Olympus.
The summit fort of rebetiko's prison songs.
Peacocks and the view where Paul preached.
Jutting floors over pebble lanes — old Macedonia.
Ano Poli, 54634 Thessaloniki
The Byzantine Acropolis WallsThe upper section of Thessaloniki's Byzantine walls, ringing the summit of the U8 minutes walk4.5
Vlatades MonasteryThe only Byzantine monastery still working in Thessaloniki, out of more than twe9 minutes walk4.8
Church of Saint Nicholas OrphanosA small, plain-looking church in a quiet lane of the **upper town**, giving noth11 minutes walk4.7
Atatürk Museum (his birthplace)A three-storey pink house in a quiet part of Thessaloniki, where **Mustafa Kemal14 minutes walk4.6
The Teloglion Foundation of ArtA museum and arts centre on the Aristotle University campus in Thessaloniki, est16 minutes walk4.7Afternoon is ideal: taxi to the Heptapyrgion (an hour with walls), down to Vlatadon and its peacocks, lane-lost with a pebble café, Trigonion just before sunset as the peak — then the evening slope to the centre, hungry: three-four hours at full richness.