The White Tower, the emblem of Thessaloniki

by Victor Grigore, Webphoto.ro

The tower of Thessaloniki is a souvenir of the lasting Ottoman occupation, when the Turks fortified the city with walls against a see attack. The tower was long time used as a prison and was the scene of several massacres. At the beginning of the 20th century, when the Greeks earned their independence, the tower was painted white as a symbolic act of cleansing. In time, the paint was washed away by storms and the sea waves, so the White Tower now has a stone color, but it remained a major tourist attraction. The tower is now a museum of the history of Thessaloniki, with projection halls, souvenir shop and a platform for a panorama over the city or over the Aegean See.

As the tower is built in the corner of the angle that the see makes with the shore and as the city is on a hill, rising from the see level, the White Tower does not only offer an overlook, but can be seen itself from many points of the city. Thus, although the height of little over 30 m is not impressive, the tower can serve as an orientation point.
Across the road from the tower there is a statue of Philip Macedon, father of Alexander Macedon, and creator or the empire that was born not far from here.