Dimokratias station

Thessaloniki (; Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη, [θesaloˈnici] (listen), also known as Thessalonica (English: ), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace. It is also known in Greek as η Συμπρωτεύουσα (i Symprotévousa), literally "the co-capital", a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (Symvasilévousa) or "co-reigning" city of the Byzantine Empire alongside Constantinople.Thessaloniki is located on the Thermaic Gulf, at the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea. It is bounded on the west by the delta of the Axios. The municipality of Thessaloniki, the historical centre, had a population of 317,778 in 2021, while the Thessaloniki metropolitan area had 1,091,424 inhabitants in 2021. It is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre, and a major transportation hub for Greece and southeastern Europe, notably through the Port of Thessaloniki. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, and is considered to be Greece's cultural capital. Events such as the Thessaloniki International Fair and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival are held annually, while the city also hosts the largest bi-annual meeting of the Greek diaspora. Thessaloniki was the 2014 European Youth Capital.The city was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, who named it after his wife Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and sister of Alexander the Great. An important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Ottomans in 1430 and remained an important seaport and multi-ethnic metropolis during the nearly five centuries of Turkish rule. It passed from the Ottoman Empire to the Kingdom of Greece on 8 November 1912. Thessaloniki exhibits Byzantine architecture, including numerous Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments, a World Heritage Site, as well as several Roman, Ottoman and Sephardic Jewish structures. The city's main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans.Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece. In 2013, National Geographic Magazine included Thessaloniki in its top tourist destinations worldwide, while in 2014 Financial Times FDI magazine (Foreign Direct Investments) declared Thessaloniki as the best mid-sized European city of the future for human capital and lifestyle.

The Church of the Holy Apostles (Greek: Ἅγιοι Ἀπόστολοι) is a 14th-century Byzantine church in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Because of its outstanding Byzantine mosaics and architecture, and its testimony to the importance of Thessaloniki in early and medieval Christianity, the church is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki.

Neos Sidirodromikos Stathmos (Greek: Νέος Σιδηροδρομικός Σταθμός, literally New Railway Station, abbreviated on maps as N. Sid. Stathmos) is an under-construction metro station at the New Thessaloniki Railway Station, serving Thessaloniki Metro's Line 1 and Line 2. It will serve as the western terminus of both lines and is expected to enter service in 2023. Construction of this station has been held back by major archaeological finds, and it is designated as a mid-importance archaeological site by Attiko Metro, the company overseeing its construction.The oldest proposal for a metro station at this location goes back to 1918, when it was proposed as a terminus for a Metropolitan Railway line essentially running the same route as the current Line 1. Neos Sidirodromikos Stathmos was also the terminus for the 1988 Thessaloniki Metro proposal.

The Apostolic Vicariate of Thessaloniki (Latin: Vicariatus Apostolicus Thessalonicensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or apostolic vicariate of the Catholic Church in northern continental Greece. It is exempt to the Holy See and is not part of any ecclesiastical province, and remains vacant under apostolic administrators since its only proper apostolic vicar, Alessandro Guidati, was promoted Archbishop of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos in 1929. Its cathedra is within the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in Thessaloniki.

The Immaculate Conception Cathedral (Greek: Καθεδρικός Ναός της Αμιάντου Συλλήψεως της Θεοτόκου) is a Roman Catholic church located on Frangon street in the city of Thessaloniki, in northern Greece. The church follows the Roman or Latin rite and functions as the seat of the Apostolic Vicariate of Thessaloniki (Vicariatus Apostolicus Thessalonicensis or Αποστολικό Βικαριάτο Θεσσαλονίκης).

The New Thessaloniki Railway Station (Greek: Νέος Σιδηροδρομικός Σταθμός Θεσσαλονίκης, Neos Sidirodromikos Stathmos Thessalonikis) is the main central passenger railway station and terminal of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city. It is located in the central quarter of Xirokrini on Monastiriou Street and was inaugurated on 12 June 1961, the passenger station replaced the older and much smaller passenger station which now handles the city's cargo rail, hence the name "new railway station" which has been retained.As of 2020, long-distance trains from New Thessaloniki Railway Station are run by TrainOSE to Athens, Alexandroupoli, Larissa, and Florina; other long-distance operators include. Bulgarian Railways, Serbian Railways and Makedonski Železnici, to Sofia, Belgrade and Skopje railway station respectively. In addition, Proastiakos Thessaloniki runs suburban commuter trains in and around Thessaly and Western Macedonia. Although largely unchanged since the 1960s, it remains the largest and busiest railway station built in Greece and one of the country's most important works of modern architecture. A metro station is currently also under construction at the station, to connect the New Thessaloniki Railway Station with the city’s new Metro system.

The railway from Thessaloniki to Bitola is a 219 kilometres (136 mi) long railway line, that connects the port city Thessaloniki in Greece with Bitola in the Republic of North Macedonia, via Veroia, Edessa, Amyntaio and Florina. The line was opened in 1894 under the name "Société du Chemin de Fer ottoman Salonique-Monastir", when the area was part of the Ottoman Empire. The section between the international border and Bitola is not used anymore, and as of 2013 passenger services are restricted to the section between Thessaloniki and Florina. The easternmost section of the line, Platy–Thessaloniki, is part of the important connection towards Athens and Northern Greece.

The Thessaloniki–Alexandroupoli railway is an about 440 km long railway in northern Greece connecting the Central Macedonian city of Thessaloniki with Alexandroupoli in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, via Serres. There is a connection towards Sofia at the Strymonas station. This railway was built in 1896 by The Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Ottoman Jonction Salonique-Constantinople (JSC). As of 2019, there is regular passenger service twice-daily to Alexandroupoli with connecting services to Dikaia, as well as international services to Sofia, to Belgrade via Skopje. The international service to Istanbul ("Friendship Express") (as of 2023) remains suspended.

The Strymon-Kulata railway is a 17.5-kilometre-long (10.9 mi) railway line that connects the village of Strymon in Greece with Kulata in Bulgaria. The line unites three villages on opposite sides of the border, Strymon and Promachonas in Serres, Greece, and Kulata in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, and is entrance/exit to the Greek rail network from Bulgaria.

Bensousan Han (or Bensoussan Han, Greek: Μπενσουσάν Χαν or Χάνι του Μπενσουσάν) is a building in Thessaloniki's upper Ladadika region (or Istira area), on Edessis street.The foundations and the ground floor were built since 1810 according to the Ottoman archives. Soon the first floor was complete and the building as a whole was a motel. It belonged to Samuel Bensousan, a Jewish citizen of Thessaloniki, who during the last century of the Ottoman era, kept operating the building as a motel or inn ("han" in Turkish language means motel, inn or even small caravanserai). Bensousan Han survived the Great Thessaloniki Fire and kept its use as a motel until c.1930. From then on it has been successively an exotic food store, a spice shop, a tuck shop, a fabric shop as well as a coffee shop. Its last post war use was as a customs office at the end of the 1970s. Then it was abandoned for almost 30 years. Since 2007 it has been gradually rediscovered by the artistic community of Thessaloniki and today it holds theatrical and cultural events, exhibitions and festivals.

Ladadika (Greek: Λαδάδικα) is the name of a historic district and a landmark area of the city of Thessaloniki, Greece. It locates near the Port of Thessaloniki and for centuries was one of the most important market places of the city. Its name came about from the many olive oil shops of the area. Many Jews of the city were living there, while the so-called "Frankish district", with the French/Italian merchants and residents, was located beside. In the years before World War I it came to form the red light district, with the area starting to host many brothels. In 1985, Ladakika was listed as a heritage site by the Ministry of Culture. Its notable architectural style with 19th century buildings is preserved and protected. Nowadays, having undergone gentrification in the 1980s, Ladadika forms the entertainment district of the city, hosting bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and pubs in what used to be old oil stores and merchant warehouses, which spill out into a network of pedestrianized streets and small squares, like Morichovou Square, popular place for tourists.

The Museum of Ancient Greek, Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Musical Instruments is a museum in Oia, Santorini, Greece.The three exhibition spaces display over 200 musical instruments, which existed between 2,800 BC and the beginning of the 20th century and have been accurately reconstructed with the help of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki to compose the museum's initial collection. They were made on the basis of pictorial and literary evidence (pottery, sculpture, figurines, illuminated Byzantine manuscripts) using the same materials mentioned in the sources. Each instrument is accompanied by the pictorial evidence of its existence. In many cases it is also possible to hear the sounds they make. Some notable examples include the seven-stringed phorminx of the Minoan period, the double pipes with an air chamber (5th century BC). The bagpipes were played on the Greek islands, by the Greeks of the Black Sea, and in Thrace. Apart from its exhibition space, the museum also has a music library, an electronic archive of scores, and a musicology research department. The museum opened in 1997 and was housed in a restored three-storey building in the Ladadika district in the centre of Thessaloniki, until 2010.