Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2025/Guide

Thessaloniki (/ˌθɛsələˈniːki/; Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη [θesaloˈnici] i), also known as Thessalonica (English: /ˌθɛsələˈnaɪkə, ˌθɛsəˈlɒnɪkə/), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (/səˈlɒnɪkə, ˌsæləˈniːkə/), is the second-largest city in Greece, with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace. It is also known in Greek as i Symprotévousa (Η Συ,πρωτεύουσα), literally "the co-capital".

There are three types of public transport available in Thessaloniki, which are:

Metro

Thessaloniki is among the cities with the newest and fully automated metro in the world. Operating hours are: 05:30 a.m. – 12:30 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and 05:30 a.m. – 2:00 a.m. on Friday, Saturday. The places where you see the symbol are metro stations. The Thessaloniki Metro is a fast and efficient way to get around the city center and eastern part of it.

Bus

Another way to get from one place to another in Thessaloniki is by bus. You can access the timetables of the buses, from this link: https://telematics.oasth.gr/en/#main

Taxis

Applications such as Taxi 18300, TaxiLife, Freenow and Uber can be used to find taxis in Thessaloniki. All cars responding to them are registered taxis. All of them are obliged to have a POS, so you can pay in cash, or credit/debit cards. There is a standard fee of 35 euros between the airport and anywhere in Thessaloniki, for any other place they need to use a meter. All registered taxis, wether you hire them on the road or through an app, have a distinguishable two color scheme: blue bottom and white top.

In Greece, the standard time is Eastern European Time (EET; UTC+02:00). Daylight saving time, which moves one hour ahead to UTC+03:00 is observed from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.

The official currency of Grece is the Euro. You can find exchange offices in Egnatia street. You can pay in cash, or credit/debit cards (VISA and Mastercard) in Greece in all shops, markets, restaurants and cafes, as it is obliged for them to have a POS.

The official language is Greeck, which is spoken by the majority of people. English, as a foreign language, is used by significant number of the local residents in various levels of proficiency. In Thessaloniki you can find many immigrants speaking Russian, Georgian, and other languages. Almost all signs are written in Greek and English.

The voltage in Greece is 230 Volts with a frequency of 50Hz. The electric socket used is the European CEE7/7 "Schuko" wall outlet. If your equipment uses different sockets, please make sure that you bring correct adapters, as these are hard to find in stores in Greece.

Our conference will be held in late September, which is typically early Autumn. However, since it is a city near the sea, the weather can change quite often and it is recommended to have clothes of different types. Mean daily maximum temperature in September is 27.8°C. We suggest light clothing such as a t-shirt, and a light jacket for the evening. Greek people still go for swimming in neighboring beaches and Chalkidiki.

• Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2025