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IN AN UPPER TOWN NEIGHBORHOOD, THE 19^th CENTURY BRIDGES WITH THE 21^st

...and one of the best-known, perhaps, hangouts in Thessaloniki follows through the food on the plates and the drink in its glasses the entire trajectory of this fascinating diachrony.

OPPONENTS FROM THE PAST.

During the Byzantine era, the rulers resided in the Upper Town of Thessaloniki. Correspondingly, during the Ottoman period the same area was preferred by wealthy Turks and Donmedes (converted Jews), so that on the one hand they would benefit from the healthier climate compared to the city center, on the other hand they would have faster access to the better protected acropolis, in case of danger. After the liberation and exchange of populations, in 1923, urban refugee families from Asia Minor settled in the Upper Town.

The traditional Balkan architecture (with some influences from European architectural currents) sets the tone for this special area, which was formed over time by "isnafia" (workshops) of craftsmen, who traveled throughout Macedonia. The main features of the buildings are the sakhnisia (the ledges on the floors, which in modern architecture we call bay windows), the hagiatia (roofed balconies) and the furousia (the sometimes wooden and sometimes iron supports of these ledges). There are, of course, neoclassical exceptions, which mainly concern Donmedes houses, due to their Western European culture.

The settlement with its narrow, stone-paved alleys escaped the devastating fire of 1917, finally being characterized as traditional 62 years later, in 1979, with all the new buildings now bearing neo-traditional elements.

AS IF NO DAY HAD PASSED…

Over time, the Upper Town was a popular destination for locals and visitors alike, who preferred it for the calm everyday life and the escape it offered from the bustling center. Several parts of it have become tourist hot spots, such as Koule Kafe square, Theophilou street with its "jewelry" residences, but also the area of Herodotou street, where the famous church of Agios Nikolaos the Orphan is located. But surely one of the classic stops of every local and visiting flâneur is Chinari, a small square a few blocks above the Governor's Office, where time literally seems to have stopped.

The area owes its name to the huge plane tree that leaves a strong impression and shadow on the square ("çinar" in Turkish means "plane tree"), but also to the old Turkish fountain of Murat II that was there. At this point, not even 30 meters from the fountain, a cafe with the same name ("Çinar") opened in 1885, owned by a Turk named Kiosse. It quickly became a hangout for Turks and Greeks, who frequented there to drink their coffee, smoke their hookah, but also to get a haircut, as in a corner of the cafe the Turkish barber Ismail offered his valuable services to anyone who wanted to groom his hair.

Almost 40 years later (the wooden sign with the mezeklikia in the shop reads "Foundation year 1928"), with the uprooting of the Greeks from Smyrna, the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey and the settlement of Greek refugees in the Upper Town, the shop passed in Greek hands, converted into an ouzo cafe, where ouzo was served accompanied by traditional Asia Minor appetizers. The classic values, however, that made "Chinari" one of the favorite haunts of the residents of Thessaloniki and visitors remained unchanged: the characteristic blue glass casings on the walls, the tiles, the period black and white tiles on the floor, the blue wooden ceiling and the covered by an acacia balcony ("shield" in the summer sun).

MEMORY MAKERS.

In the early 1990s, the Papadopoulou family converted the ouzo cafe into an ouzo tavern. Somehow, next to the Smyrna sujukaki, the handmade dolmades with fresh yogurt, the jigerosarmades, the grilled open sardine, the anchovy saganaki and the bouyourdi with authentic feta cheese and tomato (but also the grilled quince and the traditional syrupy halva, when it’s dessert time), wine and retsina come to complete the list, satisfying the tastes of the regulars and dynamically putting the specific region of the city on its wine map.

At the end of the day, however, it is the authenticity, the sense of real Thessaloniki tradition that is valued above all else by the visitors of this particular shop - especially the tourists, who have put "Chinari" in the must-see places in Thessaloniki before even leave their countries, but also the students who come for their studies in the city, creating in such taverns beautiful memories that will accompany them for the rest of their lives.