This a Jewish Heritage walking tour in Thessaloniki’s city center, where the main Jewish community used to live and work for centuries.
After the terrible fire of 1917 and World War II destruction, most buildings were lost but the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki has always tried to show and renovate the main sites.
The first stop is the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, housed in a historical building. You’ll see the exhibitions on the old Jewish cemetery, traditional clothes, and religious items from the old synagogues and a photo display on the history of the Jews in the city from antiquity to modern times. You can buy books and souvenirs from the small museum shop.
The second stop is at the Monastir Synagogue This is the only preserved old synagogue of Thessaloniki from 1927. It is known as the “Monastiriotes Synagogue”, after the Jews who fled from the old town of Monastir (nowadays Bitola) to Thessaloniki. It has been recently renovated and is still used by the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. It also houses a small exhibition in the same building.
Then you will visit the Jewish Quarter of Thessaloniki. In the old marketplace area, you’ll see the so-called “new synagogue”, Yad Lezikaron. This is currently operating every day for services and it housed in a modern commercial offices’ building, where the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki is also located. Also, you will see the famous Modiano covered market used to house many small food shops, named after the city’s architect, Eli Modiano. It is now under restoration, so we will be able to see anything, but we’ll see the building on the outside.
Another important stop is at the Pazar Hamam, a 15th-century Ottoman public bathhouse also know as “Yehudi Hamam”, since it was mainly used by the numerous Jews who were living and working in the marketplace area around it.
The last visit is at the Holocaust Memorial, located by the seafront, on the Liberty Square. You’ll see the sculpture which represents the holocaust with seven flames, in the shape of the Menorah and human bodies, created by Nandor Glid in 1997. You’ll hear about the Black Sabbath day, which took place in the very same square.

Duration

4 hours

What’s included

-Guiding Services
– Entrance fees