Ano Poli
The Vibe
Thessaloniki's Byzantine hillside village — Ottoman timber houses and Byzantine churches within 4th-century walls above the modern city, where the entire city's history is preserved in whitewashed lanes
Description
Ano Poli — the Upper Town — is the neighbourhood that climbs the hill above the modern city of Thessaloniki, enclosed within the 4th-century Byzantine walls that are among the best-preserved urban fortifications in the Mediterranean world. The neighbourhood survived the catastrophic 1917 fire that destroyed much of lower Thessaloniki almost entirely intact, which is why Ano Poli preserves the most authentic collection of Ottoman-era timber-framed houses, mosques, hammams, and Byzantine churches anywhere in Greece — a living architectural record of the city's extraordinary 1,700-year history as Byzantine, Ottoman, and Greek. The upper town's whitewashed houses with their characteristic overhanging upper floors (çıkma, in Ottoman architectural terminology) line narrow stepped streets that climb from the Byzantine walls to the Chain Tower at the northeastern corner of the fortifications. The Eptapyrgio (Seven Towers) citadel at the highest point of the walls provides a panoramic view across the entire city, the Thermaic Gulf, and on clear days the Mount Olympus range 80 kilometres to the south. The neighbourhood is also home to several of Thessaloniki's most important Byzantine churches: the Church of Osios David (5th century, with one of the finest early Byzantine mosaics in Greece) and the Rotonda (a 4th-century Roman mausoleum converted to a church and then a mosque) are both within walking distance of Ano Poli. The neighbourhood's residential character has been preserved by the steep terrain that limits vehicular access and commercial development: the streets are simply too narrow and the gradient too steep for the kind of development that has transformed lower Thessaloniki. Instead, Ano Poli's residents — a mix of old Thessaloniki families, artists, academics, and young people drawn by the neighbourhood's authenticity and relative affordability — live in a kind of suspended urban time, surrounded by 400 years of architectural history.
Neighborhood Stats
Popular With
- history-enthusiasts
- architecture-lovers
- culture-seekers
- photographers
- walkers
- couples
- Byzantine-heritage
Key Attributes
- Byzantine-walls
- Ottoman-houses
- UNESCO
- hilltop
- panoramic-views
- historic
- Eptapyrgio
- authentic
Food Scene
Taverna Aristoteles (near the Byzantine walls, Ano Poli) is the upper town's traditional taverna — mezedes, grilled meats, and local wine served on a terrace with views across the city. Tzitzikas kai Mermigas (Mitropoleos 13, just below Ano Poli) is one of Thessaloniki's most celebrated modern restaurants, reimagining traditional Greek recipes with quality ingredients and playful presentation. The neighbourhood's cafés and ouzeris serve the residential population rather than tourists, maintaining the authentic northern Greek café culture of lengthy morning coffees and afternoon meals.