Haha, I think you'll never forget that hands sanitizer :)
I have been there for a few hours decades ago but I can confirm that some neighborhoods are definitely not for tourists (at least back then). I don't know if you have read the Marseilles Trilogy by Jean-Claude Izzo but back then it was like a Bible for my friends and myself. We were young and considered ourselves tough and fearless. So we not only didn't avoid the "bad" neighborhoods but we were looking for them. It was where the plot of the novel was happening and we wanted to have a first hand experience. Nothing tragic happened mostly because at some point, we were able to identify the danger and we were smart enough to lower our eyes and get the hell out of there as soon as possible 😥
Great post by the way 😊
No the hand sanitizer story will stick with me for a while I think 😂
The book series sounds interesting and now that you pointed out your experience I totally believe that it was quite bad some years ago. I didn't post about it because I was unsure about the truth of it, but one site I read online said that some areas in the city are "no go" zones even for police. It said that locals monitor who comes and goes from the neighborhood and that people openly walk around with AK 47's hahaha. It sounded too far fetched to mention but...maybe there's is some truth to it from back in the day???
Thanks for sharing your experience of the city.
I didn't see any guns but probably there were many!
As I said nothing tragic actually happened but it was a good shake and a useful realisation that we are not as badass as we liked to believe :)
Your post reminded me all that and I just felt like sharing!
Thank you for listening.
For sure, everyone is a badass until they're life is actually threatened haha I've definitely been there too when I was younger. When you actually end up in a bad situation though it's usually like "why the heck did i put myself into this situation!?!" 😆