Thessaloniki's most famous landmark is Lefkos Pyrgos, the White Tower. The tower dates from Byzantine times, when it was one of the corner turrets of the city's walls. As Salonika modernized, it outgrew the ancient limits of the walls and many sections were torn down, but the tower was left standing. During the 19th Century and earlier, it was known as the Tower of Blood, for it served as a prison and execution site under the Ottomans. Today, it is a museum and a great vantage point for vies over the harbor and the city. The Monkey was keen to visit Lefkos Pyrgos, as he lives nearby another Lefkos Pyrgos in Astoria, Queens, New York, home to the largest Greek community outside Greece.

The Monkey enjoys a night out in one of Thessaloniki's lively restaurants, but the bubbly retsina wine made his head start to spin.

Retsina wine is a Greek specialty. In order to keep wine from spoiling on long journeys, ancient Greek vintners used pine resin to seal the wine containers. The reaction of the resin with the wine gave retsina wine its unique taste and tingle. Not everyone is a fan, but everyone should try it once.

The Monkey takes in the view from atop Lefkos Pyrgos. The promenade along the waterfront, Leoforos Nikis, is full of lively cafés that are in turn full of pretty young Greeks checking each other out. If the cityscape here looks excessively modern it is worth recalling that Thessaloniki was heavily destroyed by a fire in 1917. Redesigned with modern boulevards and a grid street system by the Frenchman Ernest Hébrard, Thessaloniki's modern face took shape.

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