White Tower of Thessaloniki, Greece Tote Bag

A souvenir from Greece's second-largest city and the capital of Greece's north, featuring an illustration of the White Tower landmark. Thessaloniki, also known as Thessalonica or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece, with over 1 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of Macedonia. It is also known in Greek as "the co-capital" (symprotevousa), a reference to its historical status as the "co-reigning" city of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, alongside Constantinople. It is located on the Thermaic Gulf, at the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea. It is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre; it is a major transportation hub for Greece and southeastern Europe, notably through the Port of Thessaloniki. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, and is considered to be Greece's cultural capital. The White Tower (Greek: Λευκός Πύργος Lefkós Pýrgos) is a monument and museum on the waterfront of the city. The present tower replaced an old Byzantine fortification, known to have been mentioned around the 12th century, that the Ottoman Empire reconstructed to fortify the city's harbor sometime after Sultan Murad II captured Thessaloniki in 1430. The tower became a notorious prison and scene of mass executions during the period of Ottoman rule. The White Tower was substantially remodeled and its exterior was whitewashed after Greece gained control of the city in 1912. It has been adopted as the symbol of the city. You may edit all text - and also delete or change the color of the red heart behind the White Tower design.