Hiking and Heaps of Horses

Last weekend I decided to take some time to explore Dublin and the surrounding area by myself, and I'm delighted that I did! Though an extrovert by nature (ENFJ, for your Myers-Briggs people), being abroad has helped me enjoy taking time to explore/appreciate things by myself. On Saturday morning I woke up and took the DART (train that goes to small towns outside of Dublin) to a seaside town called Bray. From Bray I hiked to the next town over called Greystones, as suggested to me by some friends. During medieval times the town was governed by the English Crown from Dublin Castle, and the countryside was controlled by the Gaelic Chieftans. Since the 17th century Bray has been a fishing village which became increasingly attractive to the middle class who wanted to move outside the hustle and bustle of Dublin City life. Bray was a popular seaside tourist destination in the 20th century and today, and still features many festivals and celebrations. James Joyce and Oscar Wilde lived there, and it is featured in Joyce's Ulysses.

After my 40 minute train ride I found myself right on the beach and took my time leisurely strolling along the coast. It was very overcast that day, but I didn't mind. Being by the sea made me happy as a clam :)

Bray Beach

Beautiful stones

The hike toward Greystones was a little over 5 kilometers and was along the coast the entire way!

Onward!

On the path I found some remains of old houses! These people had amazing views--talking about prime oceanfront real estate!

Remains of a house.

So here's where my story gets interesting! I was walking along the trail, minding my own business, when suddenly I spotted three large masses up ahead! To my excitement they were horses--my favorite! I was surprised as to why there were horses in front of me--had the escaped from a fence? Were they...wild? These were definitely some rugged, heavy-duty, industrial strength Irish horses. I slowly approached theme and gave plenty of room. For awhile I just stood and looked at them, then cautiously stoked the mane of the black horse. None of them responded or did anything so I spent a little time with them, then began walking on my way. As I was leaving I realized I had an apple in my bookbag that was going to be my afternoon snack, but I decided the horses would like it! The horses definitely knew I had something tasty for them as I pulled it out of my bag and they started approaching me. I set the apple on the ground and boy did they get excited! After giving them the apple, I quickly got out of the way. They were certainly hungry and I probably should have realized that three horses and one apple is not exactly perfect math. 

Horses on the path!

Action shot of the horses attacking the apple.

After nearly being followed/stalked by hungry horses.

Only a few minutes after my encounter with the hungry horses I found myself in the town of Greystones, which is named for the one kilometer stretch of grey stones that are all along the beach. I'm pretty sure these stones have been here since the beginning of time, and you can quote me on that. The town itself was adorable and had a great little main street where lots of people were walking to grab a bite to eat, go to mass and shop. Greystones was voted the "World's Most Livable Community" by the LivCom Awards in 2008, and I can see why! Idyllic was the best way to describe it.

Success! Standing on the stones that are the town's namesake.

I adore the sea! 

 The Apple Blossom colors and name of this pub made me happy.

Later that night I spent time with Jenny and Connor while drinking tea and discussing Ireland's victory over England in the Cricket World Cup, and also the continuing Six Nations Rugby Tournament. Jenny is Irish and Connor is English, and the big matchup between the rivals is next weekend. I can't wait to support Ireland! We ended the night by singing lots of Disney songs...clearly no matter where you live (USA, Ireland, England), those movies/music are a common theme of childhood. Love that.

The next day I woke early to go to the Smithfield Horse Fair, an event that's been happening in my neighborhood since the 17th century and the oldest horse fair in Europe. All along the streets the night before and day of the event there were horse trailers and horses and ponies on the streets surrounding my apartment. The event happens on the first Sunday of every month and is something I'd heard about prior to coming to Ireland and knew I wanted to see. Visitors, buyers and sellers from all over Ireland and the UK attend, and the people selling the horses are traveling families. The fair in March is the busiest of the year as it is in the beginning of spring, and therefore was very crowded. To make matters worse, construction was going on in Smithfield Square decreasing the amount of space by half. 4,500 people and horses were crowded in this small space so I was very careful as I walked around and observed this old tradition.

Ponies!

My favorite horse of the day was this little guy with the jacket. Very tempted to purchase that little pony :)

Looking good!

Animal rights organizations are against this tradition because some of the animals are not treated well and some horses are sold very inexpensively, which has allowed young children to buy and ultimately neglect them. I saw lots of children helping their families with the showing and selling of the horses, including a young boy I met who was there with his eleven uncles and three of his brothers (of which a brother, age 10, and uncle both asked me out.) His family was showing horses in three different spots in the square, and his responsibility was to hold on to three to five horses at a time so the men could show horses and look at others. Essentially, this little guy was horse babysitting all day. This kid was nice to the horses, but some of the children and teenagers there were clearly enjoying their power of an animal, which was very hard to watch. 

My new friend who entertained me for half an hour.

Cute pony and even cuter Irish men.

I left the horse fair to work on a group project with some classmates, and it's lucky I did. It turns out that two feuding families became violent. Two of the men fighting were shot and sent to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries. The gun shots caused a stampede of people and horses through the square, but luckily no one else was seriously hurt. I'm thankful to have gotten out of there before the chaos ensued, and I hope the emergency legislation goes through to close this fair for good. Though it is part of Dublin tradition, I think some of the treatment of the animals is sub-par and the fair itself is a danger to the people who are present; there's a lot that can go wrong in a short amount of time.

Footage of the Scene Right After I Left

After Smithfield I met my German and French classmates to play soccer on Grafton Street and in St. Stephen's Green. We were filming a commercial for a video games tournament that we are hosting as part of our event planning class.  I must say I was very scared that we were going to be kicked off Grafton St. as it is one of the nicest pedestrian shopping areas in the city, but fortunately we were merely a spectacle for the Sunday shoppers. Before we began filming, some of the boys were juggling the ball and after watching for a bit I asked if I could give it a try. I love when boys don't expect you to be good at soccer and then you end up juggling just as well as they can--seeing the look of surprise/approval on their faces was golden.

After our successful shoot I headed home and stopped by the Dublin Book Festival in the City Council building.  I listened to some Irish authors read their prose, poetry and speak in panel discussions. The best part was hearing one of the authors read her poetry in Gaelic, then English. I find Gaelic to be so intriguing, and even though I didn't know what the words meant until they were read in English, I thought they were amazingly beautiful.

Dublin Book Festival

On the walk home I decided I needed a scone, so I stopped at Queen of Tarts--a bakery I pass everyday. My chocolate scone was delicious and the perfect way to end one of the best weekends I've ever had. A weekend of hiking, horses, books and pastries? I think I may very well be my own dream date :)

Yum.