9 Best Shopping in Thessaloniki and Central Macedonia, Greece

With eight outlets in Thessaloniki, Agapitos Patisserie, which aptly translates as "loved one," is indeed one of the best loved confectionary shops in the city. Best known for chocolate-covered tsourekia (a sweet bread traditionally served at Easter) and the syrupy pastries from Asia Minor.

Averof is the only patisserie in Thessaloniki that creates kosher pastries.

On Wednesday the narrow streets surrounding the Rotunda are taken over by a bazaar with knickknacks and the occasional interesting heirloom, antique, or folk art piece for sale.

Thessaloniki's fabled Anatolian sweets can be sampled at central Hatzis. Specialties include the buffalo-milk cream-based kazan dipi, a kind of flan; trigono, a cream-filled triangle of phyllo; and kataïfi (logs of crushed and sugared walnuts wrapped in honey-drenched shredded phyllo) served with kaïmaki (mastic-flavored ice cream). Choose a beverage—like iced coffee, granita, or boza (a thick, sweet, millet-and-corn drink)—and people-watch from the pedestrian side street that faces the gardens of Panagia Chalkeon church.

Ianos draws travelers because of its stock of foreign-language books.

Greece's leading producer of excellent natural cosmetics and beauty products now has a shop in Thessaloniki south of the city center. Even though most pharmacies stock Korres, this shop has the full range of products. For those who want to order these and other top Greek beauty products online and have them sent to your home there are good some websites providing this service, the best of which is www.mysecretkshopper.com.

Mastihashop carries products containing mastic—a tree resin produced on the Aegean island of Chios that's known for its various health benefits. The broad range of cosmetics, preserves, sweets, and other items come in extremely attractive packaging. Don't miss out on the mastiha liqueur, which is to be kept in the freezer and sipped as a digestif.

Terkenlis serves an unforgettable tsoureki (sweet bread flavored with mahlepi, a spice made from the ground-up pits of a Persian cherry) and then filled and dipped in chocolate. This delicacy is so delicious that it disappears within hours from this extremely popular patisserie's shelves.