Our body are really being put to endurance test on this trip O.O
Walking tour wasn’t the problem, the challenge started after we it finished, party of two became four with Denisa and Jorel. Our physical limit was pushed to the max, I can imagine my hips wanted to detach from body.
We have been standing and walking continuously from 10AM until 18:15 ish.. Since we still have food from the Ribs, dinner together wasn’t an option. Irina suggested to close the day with a drink, however we had difficulties finding the bar. I said: I cannot sit on the bar anymore, I just want to go to our AirBnB, watched Prime on her account and put Tiger Balm all over my legs. Thanks God they were all agreed!
Huge thanks to Irina for becoming our pact-leader and Denisa for following her step. Meanwhile, Jorel gave major “first time in Europe” sign, constantly asking how much longer we had to walk.
Dude, if you aren’t helping, be like me: zip it or go home. Irina has saint-like patience because one more time and I was ready to snap.
Byeeee, Chicos!
Wait… how about the tour itself? We couldn’t have been that drop-dead tired out of thin air. Memories, please come back 😉
Central Baths Fountain now became museum, not far from it, there is still an active mineral water refilling station. A lot of people show up every day with their giant 5-10L plastic bottle which I don’t think it’s a good idea considering the water temperature is always warm. I tried it, let’s leave it for the locals hey… although I can see it will be beneficial during cold winter time.
The yellow cobblestone in front of Royal Palace. Supposedly, they were paved for a royal wedding ~ either as a gift to impres Prince Ferdinand I and Princess Marie Louise or for his second marriage to Queen Eleonore. They aren’t just painted yellow, they are actually made of ceramic blocks sourced from marl, a type of limestone clay. What the builders didn’t realize…. once rain poured down, no one can walk there, neither horses nor people #Slippery when wet. It does looks magnificent from far away, making the street look like it’s paved in pure gold.
The offical tour with Tomi finished, we decided to re-explore the places at our own pace. We went inside St. Alexander and St. Sofia church.
Afterward, we headed to a restaurant Tomi highly recommended, promising the food tasted just like a grandma’s home cooking and was very cheap. It is a tiny one, at first they turned us away, but! another Good Samaritan stepped in and explained he was just about to leave. We decided to wait, got his table! #Happy. Sofia is full of kind helping people! Even when we struggled to read the menu, the guy sitting next to us immediately jumped in to translate.
He was right about the price, downside they don’t have many options. Luckily, I found something: chicken livers! Next, we wandered into an area that was allegedly “shady” called the Women’s Market. It wasn’t shady at all, complete the opposite, honestly. It’s just a regular local market, without much fruits or veggies, mostly clothes and kitchenware.
Eventually, we found ourselves back in the vicinity where Irina and I had explored the day before. We passed St. George Rotunda church where a beggar woman had scared the shit out of us. Guess what? she was still on her default position hahaha though during the daytime she was a bit more tame.
After that, we visited Elephant bookstore, walked through NDK (National Cultural Park) which helds a Japanese exhibition, ended up in Gifted Bookshop. For once, I was in the right place at the right time because during the time we were in Gifted, I accidentally eavesdropped on someone saying “you must RSVP in order to visit The Red Flat Museum”. Good job Marlyn! #Proud
Satisfied with hour our day ends, let’s go back, ate our leftovers from Ribs Brother while watching a movie. Irina picked Midsommar, a movie I always wanted to watch ever since it came out, but too chicken out. The movie was odd, graphic, it wasn’t as scary or disturbing as I had imaged. The whole time we commented “what the fuck?” followed by laughing. We couldn’t even finish it, saved the rest for our final day tomorrow 🙂