After Treviso and Manchester, my destination for the 3rd EuroMiniMeetup (short trips I make in Europe to visit and explore the city where a fellow local guide is living) was Thessaloniki, home to the incredible @Stella2 .
My timing was perfect, as I turned out to escape quite harsh weather conditions in my home country (Belgium, where the temperature was close to 0°C and actually saw some snow in the days I spent in Greece) only to end up in a wonderful 19° sunny sky (the first day was a bit cloudy, but still with very nice temperatures).
Stella was really the perfect host, both as local guide (showing me all the best places, and thereby relying also on her incredibly elaborate network of friends all over the area and as taxi driver (including pick up from and ride to the airport). And I can tell you from personal experience now: she does know all the best places and she does have loads of friends - I must have heard her say ‘I have a friend that does/knows/lives/etc’ at least a 1.000 times in the course of my 3 day visit! I’m not a big reviewer on Google Maps (although they keep reminding me that I am in the top 10%), but now I feel really compelled to write quite a few 5 star reviews in the next few days.
Before digging deeper into the places I visited and experiences I was fortunate to enjoy, let me say a few words on traffic in Thessaloniki, which is pretty different from what I am used to in the more northern European countries where I spend most of my time. What struck me quite quickly was the relative absence from public transit in the streets. Sure, there are buses, but in my experience there are visibly fewer than I am used to in other cities. And there is no underground railway network. Correction: there are underground stations and tracks, but they are not in use, because the works are still in progress, as Stella explained to me on the trip from the airport to the city centre (with a coffee stop in a trendy food market).
My assumption was that the reason for this was lack of money for such a huge project, but Stella told me that this was not the main reason (although of course money is always an issue, especially after the economic hardship Greece had to go through after the 2008 financial crisis). The biggest cause of delays was archeology. As you might suspect - given the history of Greece - more or less anywhere in Greece you dig a hole in the ground, the chances of finding something ancient (and therefore often valuable) are high. So the excavations for the Thessaloniki underground are stopped time and time again because of archeological finds.
As a result of this low level availability of public transit there is a gigantic amount of cars driving around in the city - with half of them in search of a parking space. In the main road in the city centre the effect is that one of the 3 lanes is permanently and quasi completely used for double parking. People who have to do some quick shopping just double park, run their errand and then just continue on one of the lanes used for driving. Talking about lanes, also on the highway… those dotted lines which, in most countries, are used to separate lanes, really seem to be more a general indicator of the direction in which the road continues (probably for those who fail to notice the concrete blocks on one side of the road and the metal barriers on the other side), as the concept of ‘keeping your car within the boundaries of a single lane’ is not a general practice 
Also the white lines across the lanes at traffic lights seem to have a different function from what I’m used to: instead of ‘the point where should stop if you’re the first car when the traffic light turns to red’, those lines seem to denote in Thessaloniki ‘the general area where you stop when the light turns red’ - 10 meters in front of it or 1,5 meters past it (yes, partially on the pedestrian crossing then, of course) is all fine.
(Additional note: this is not in the slightest meant to criticise my lovely host Stella who is actually an excellent driver).
Ok, then on to the actual trip! The most famous monument in Thessaloniki is The White Tower, so we visited that first. It’s called that because allegedly a single prisoner (the building used to be a prison) painted the entire building white to gain his freedom. But that must have been a long time ago, as it’s not really white anymore (although it does look whiter at night, as you can see in the nightly picture). From the top of the tower, you get a great view of the city of course, bit what was more important to me is that I had the same kind of luck that I experienced on my previous EuroMiniMeetup in Manchester: there I was able to capture 3 guiding stars in 1 picture (as you can see in the recap post) and here I was able to capture 2 towers in 1 picture: a white one with a red one in front of it 
(sorry, Stella, this was a joke I could not avoid - but of course your wonderful haircut is beyond any doubt your most noticeable feature).
Then it was time for a ‘light lunch’. Or so I thought. If there is something you need to know about Greek food (apart from the fact that it tastes delicious of course) is that the portions you get served are generous. Very generous. Plus the hospitality is mind boggling. On top of whatever you order, there are loads of extras at no additional cost. Even when I went for a beer in the evening, that came with a huge bowl of crisps (at least 5 times the size of the tiny glass cups with nuts I’m used to getting in bars at home. Greek hospitality is really of mythological proportions.
After lunch we took a walk through the city to see some of the most beautiful buildings, squares, markets and galleries - as you can see in these pictures.
One of the main squares in Thessaloniki is Aristotle Square, called after the famous Greek philosopher and one of the prominent elements of this square is of course this statue of Aristotle.
When I was walking by the statue later on, I happened to witness a very peculiar scene: the great-great-great-etc-grandson of Aristotle (leaning against the statue) was having a philosophical argument, over the smartphone, with the great-great-great-etc-grandson of Plato. My Greek is a bit rusty, so I wasn’t able to follow the conversation in detail, but I believe it had something to do with shadows…
The day ended on Heptapyrgion, part of the old city walls in a higher part of town, where we witnessed the sunset. Needless to say that this led to some amazing pictures!
On day 2, the focus was on Mount Olympos - you know that mountain where according to Greek mythology all the gods were residing. On sunny days you can see the mountain from the city, on the opposite side of the Thermaic Gulf, with the snowy tops. (On most images of Zeus - the ‘boss’ of all Greek gods - he is not really wearing very heavy clothing, so I guess he was usually not residing at the very top of Mount Olympos).
First we visited the Tourist information centre, which also hosts a really nice museum where you can learn all about the mountain and the park, as well as the story behind the gods of Greek mythology (where I also figured out that Zeus must have been an extremely fertile guy - judging by the number of children he had, it seems that more or less every female that came within a 5 meter radius of him was instantly impregnated).
Afterwards we drove the car up the mountain until reaching the barrier that signifies “you’ll have to leave your car here and proceed on foot”. Stella decided to wait in the parking lot while I was taking a walk along the path (I told you she was the perfect host - and while waiting there she even succeeded in adding a new friend, from Israel, to her already impressive collection of friends).
Visiting Zeus at his home ground, I wanted to make some kind of offering to the deity. So, when I reached an open spot where previous visitors had already piled up some rocks (as tourists do on more or less every mountain, right?), I added the top rock that you see in this picture. My wish in doing so was ‘a lifetime of good luck’, not for myself (as I am already having good luck almost all of the time), but for everyone liking this post.
On the way back to Thessaloniki, we stopped at the Byzantine Castle of Platomon - with another spectacular view of Mount Olympos from behind the ancient walls.
By then all that climbing had made us quite hungry, so I was happy to find out that Stella knew the perfect place for lunch, very close to the castle. And that offered an excellent opportunity for some local guide activity: Chalet Castello was already on Google Maps as hotel, but the restaurant was not yet there as a separate POI. And sice it is also accessible to visitors not staying at the hotel, it is definitely justified to add a separate restaurant listing for it - so I added that right away (and will most certainly add a 5-star review soon): Chalet Castello Restaurant. And also here, once again… incredible hospitality (as in ‘pay for 2 courses and get served 5’).
By the time we got back to the city, the sun was already setting and this time Stella took me to the waterfront for even more spectacular photo opportunities.
To close off day 2, I explored Thessaloniki by night, coming across the statue of Alexander The Great and a more modern artwork by the famous sculptor Giorgios Zoggolopoulos called The Umbrellas.
My final day in Thessaloniki started with a visit to the Archeological Museum.
One of the most remarkable artefacts there was an unfinished statue on display as part of a temporary exhibition about the history of the museum itself (celebrating its 60th anniversary). It seems to show the thoughts of the artist when working on the statue: “OK, the head is finished - which part of the body should we focus on next?”
The final stop in the Thessaloniki area was Ktima Gerovassiliou, a winery and art centre all in one. This is definitely a must-visit place if you’re in the area!
There are modern works of art in the middle of the vineyard and spread all across the domain. Plus there is a wine-making museum which also hosts one of the biggest collections of corkscrews in the world.
And of course you get the chance to engage in some wine tasting - which we then obviously did.
All that was left for me then - waiting for the flight back at the airport - was to start making plans for the next EuroMiniMeetup. Nothing is fixed yet, but I can assure you that plans are being doctored!
And I hope we can meet up in neighboring Turkey 
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(On most images of Zeus - the ‘boss’ of all Greek gods - he is not really wearing very heavy clothing, so I guess he was usually not residing at the very top of Mount Olympos)