The garden and view
Shade, peacocks and benches over the city and the gulf.
Stolbovsky — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Stolbovsky — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Stolbovsky — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Stolbovsky — CC BY-SA 3.0
The only Byzantine monastery still working in Thessaloniki, out of more than twenty the city once had — it stands on the slope of the **upper town** below the walls, and is inscribed among the **UNESCO World Heritage** Palaeochristian and Byzantine monuments of the city. It was founded in the mid **fourteenth century**, and its small church keeps wall paintings from that period. It survived the Ottoman centuries, when most of the city's churches became mosques — it is said to have enjoyed particular protection, which is what preserved it. Local tradition holds that **Saint Paul** preached on this spot when he visited the city in the first century, and a small shrine in the garden marks it. The monastery today is **working**, inhabited by monks, and houses an institute of patristic studies and an important manuscript library. ⚠ For a passing visitor its loveliest feature is the **garden and courtyard**: shade, trees, wandering peacocks, and a **wide view** over Thessaloniki and the gulf from a quiet bench — and all of it **free**.
Shade, peacocks and benches over the city and the gulf.
Original Byzantine painting in the small church.
The spot marked by tradition in the garden.
Eptapyrgiou 64, Ano Poli, 54634 Thessaloniki
The Byzantine Acropolis WallsThe upper section of Thessaloniki's Byzantine walls, ringing the summit of the U1 minute walk4.5
Church of Saint Nicholas OrphanosA small, plain-looking church in a quiet lane of the **upper town**, giving noth6 minutes walk4.7
The Basilica of Saint Demetrius & its CryptAgios Dimitrios is the city's mother church: Greece's largest, over the grave of8 minutes walk4.8
Atatürk Museum (his birthplace)A three-storey pink house in a quiet part of Thessaloniki, where **Mustafa Kemal8 minutes walk4.6
Ano Poli & the HeptapyrgionAno Poli is the Thessaloniki that survived: the Great Fire (1917) ate the lower 9 minutes walk4.7It is a **working monastery**, not an attraction, and the rules are genuinely enforced. **Modest dress is required**: shoulders and knees covered for men and women, and shorts or bare shoulders may be refused at the door. **Silence** is expected in the church and courtyard, and **photography inside the church is generally forbidden** (ask before raising a phone). ⚠ The monastery closes **for prayer and at midday** — common in Greek monasteries, so check the hours before climbing to the upper town specifically for it.
**Ride up and walk down** — the golden rule in Thessaloniki. Take a bus from the centre to **Ano Poli**, start at the **Heptapyrgion** at the top (a cheap ticket, or just the free view from its square), drop to **Vlatades Monastery** for the garden and the view, then keep descending along the **Byzantine walls** and through the quarter's lanes with their timber houses that survived the 1917 fire, until you reach the centre. The whole route is **downhill**, almost entirely free, and takes about two hours — the best thing to do in Thessaloniki.