Thursday the 6th of April.
What an invitation! Epiculiar, a lifestyle organisation in Thessaloniki specializing in food tours through out the city invited us to go on a trial tour with them.
Our tour guide Danai who grew up in Thessaloniki and then went to England for university came back to her hometown a few months ago and guided us through the city centre and its hidden gems.
By showing us authentic spots in Thessaloniki she guided us through the city and indulged us in the real Greek lifestyle.
Our tour started at the old port with an icebreaker by giving us an introduction on how the Greeks greet each other, two kisses on the cheek and a hug. We continued by crossing the street and straight away having our first stop.
The first stop was an old arcade building that used to be some kind of market at the beginning of the 1900. Now it is a modern self-service restaurant, bakery, coffee store and local products shop. We were offered some kind of bread sticks with olive oil, honey, orange marmalade and some kind of maple dessert from Crete. While enjoying the little “Apéro” we got a little introduction on the history of Thessaloniki. Our tour continued with a five to ten minute walk to a bakery that is supposed to sell the best Bougatsa and indeed it was amazing! The tour carried on with little historical inputs along the way or while we enjoyed the food that was offered to us either in local Tavernas, bakeries or market stands. We tried olives, fish, the traditional sauces, Greek sweets, filled wine leaves and a lot more. Of course we were also offered the typical Greek drinks like Greek coffee, wine or ouzo. We strolled through the market spoke to locals, saw the historical part of the city or sat on a rooftop terrace enjoying the sun.
In the end the four-hour tour was a six-hour tour but as we had enough time that was no problem for us and we spent a lovely afternoon with our tour guide and finished off the tour by the white tower laying in the grass.
