Our Great Adventure: Sucre Day 254 30/05/2015

We had a excellent breakfast at the b&b and set off to join city tour which was apparently due to start at 1000, only to be told it wasn't on today (to be honest we weren't really sure if it ever ran!). Deflated we went for a hot chocolate at one of many chocolatiers here, in order to rethink our plans. Sucre was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1991. It claims to be Bolivia's most beautiful city and is the symbolic heart of the country. Whilst La Paz is the seat of the government and treasury, Sucre is recognised in the constitution as the capital. We were keen to see some of the colonial architecture and set off ourselves on our own tour. First stop was the Casa de la Libertad where the Bolivian declaration of independence was signed on 6 August 1825. Although it advertised tours in English it didn't have any so we wandered around the various rooms ourselves, including the impressive liberty room, which told the story of independence. From here we walked through the main square, Plaza 25 de Mayo, to visit the Cathedral however there was a service on so we decided to come back later. We wandered along passed the colonial terraces of San Felipe de Neri and then headed to the local Merced, avoiding the meat and chicken section and walked through the colourful fruit and vegetable stalls, stopping on route to buy some tangerines. The place was a maze selling almost everything, each having it's own section, including some very colourful but no doubt sugar rich cakes. By now it was time for lunch and we headed to a nearby cafe called Condor, where Simon was able to check on the FA cup final score! He was delighted Arsenal had won as it meant Liverpool now qualified for the group stages of next year's Europa League. Somehow Diane didn't share his enthusiasm! After lunch we strolled around a few more streets, booked a visit to a local market in Tarabuco tomorrow and also a trek on an Inca Trail plus visiting a large crater for Monday. Sorted we then went back to the Cathedral to find it closed, (apparently it is only open to the public on Sundays) before collecting our laundry and heading back to the b&b where we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine, with Simon trying to learn more Spanish and Diane dozing in the sun. At c2700m the air is still chilly although the sun is very intense and warming. In the evening we went to Solar Cafe and Bistro, where we enjoyed 2 different types of traditional Bolivian chicken meals, both of which were very tasty. These with drinks came to a princely sum of B$168, c£15 so excellent value for money!