Thessaloniki Jewish Sightseeing Private Tour, Shore Excursion

Since 1997, a monument in the centre of Thessaloniki commemorates the city's murdered Jews. Only a few hundred members of what was once the largest Jewish community in Greece lived to return home after the deportations to Auschwitz-Birkenau, which took place in a matter of just a few months in 1943.

The Monastirioton Synagogue is the most important of the three existent synagogues in Thessaloniki and it is the only one that survived from the time before World War II. Its historical value makes it one of the monuments that everyone visits on, following the Jewish path, and it functions in parallel as a cult’s place for the Jewish community. It was established by Inda Aroesti, who devoted it in the memory of her husband Isaak Aroesti, it was founded in 1925 and its construction lasted till 1927. The synagogue was called Monastirioton because the majority of the families that contributed economically to its build came from Monastery in Yugoslavia, which is named today Bitola, from where they left in Balkan Wars and World War I.

Τhe Agia Sofia or Agia Sophia for several years was the metropolis of Thessaloniki. Agia Sofia is a great Basilica (domed) built over the ruins of an earlier gigantic basilica (which was destroyed in the 6th century AD). The church was built to commemorate the Agia Sofia in Constantinopolis. The construction began in the 7th century AD but during the years of construction there were many modifications and additions. During the Ottoman Empire this church as many others became a mosque but it was destroyed by fire in 1890 to reopen and offer its holly service, in 1913. Visitors of Agia Sofia will be able to observe the existence of very impressive pictures and carved decorations retained by the 8th, 9th and 11th century.