Our flight out of Dubrovnik left at 7:30am; which meant we had to be up at 4am. The one good thing the owner of Apartments Mia did was he knew a reliable taxi driver who picked us up at 4:55am (and help us with our bags) to take us to the airport).
We travelled via Frankfurt, Germany; firstly via Croatia Airlines which were good, but then we had to change to Aegian Airlines to get to Greece. Our bags were checked right through however because they were over weight we had to trudge from one end of Frankfurt Airport to the other to get our boarding passes because of the excess baggage - so we were buggered and didnt have much time to look around. Then there was a hassle with the plane or other passengers getting on to the Aegian Airlines plane and we ended up leaving about an hour late. Lots of passengers were shuffled around in their sets, but luckily we stayed put with one spare seat next to us.
Once we got to Thessaloniki Airport we picked up our hire car, turned on the TomTom and drove into the middle of the city to find Hotel Le Palace. There wasnt any parking, but luckily it was a national holiday and we were able to briefly park close by. We checked in and then the hotel gave us a discount voucher to a local car park for 24hrs.
We went our exploring. We went to the White Tower and looked around some of the cultural areas. Unfortunately most tourist places were closed because it was a public holiday. But, we found a great cafe called "The Bites Store" (see previous Facebook check-in); where we shared a range of Mezza (appetisers like tapas). We had great service from the waiter; we loved the food and it was really enjoyable.
Thessaloniki has a strip of trendy cafe bars along the water front much like most other coastal towns and cities in this region.