Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki wears its two thousand years lightly. Down on the bay, the White Tower watches over a promenade where the whole city walks at sunset; a few streets back, the Arch of Galerius and the vast brick Rotunda stand where Roman emperors built them; and climbing the hill, the old quarter of Ano Poli keeps its Ottoman houses and its views over the gulf. Byzantine churches, fifteen of them on the UNESCO list, are folded in between, still scented with candle wax.

Then there is the table, which is where Thessaloniki truly rules. This has always been a crossroads city, and its kitchen carries the memory of it, from the great Sephardic community that once thrived here to the flavours of Asia Minor. Start with warm bougatsa at first light, wander the stalls of the Modiano and Kapani markets, settle into a meze lunch in Ladadika's painted lanes and finish among the bars where Greece's largest student population keeps the city young. Ask a Greek where to eat best in the country, and this is the answer you will hear.

The city also earns its title as the gateway of the north. Within an hour or so, you can be swimming off the pine fringed coves of Halkidiki, and within two, standing beneath Mount Olympus or tasting wine in the vineyards of Naoussa. Vergina, the royal tombs of the Macedonian kings, waits on the plain to the west; the monasteries of Meteora rise a comfortable drive to the southwest.

That is exactly how we suggest using it. With our local team, Thessaloniki becomes the first chapter of the great mainland journey: two or three days for the city and its table, then the road south through Meteora to Athens and on into the Peloponnese, every stage arranged, every hotel and guide in place. You land in the north, and the whole of Greece unfolds ahead of you.