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.

(MAD)rid about Spain

I'm so terribly sorry for my lack of blogs recently, but I'm been traveling more than Carmen San Diego lately! So, here goes! Back in action!

Sarah, Elise F. and I went to Spain for a long weekend a few weeks back. We were troopers and left our apartments at 4:30 made our way to the airport! I, being the night owl that I am, decided not to go to bed so I could pass out at the airport and on the plane. Good thing I'm used little sleep at Elon...otherwise I would  have been miserable. Luckily I caught some z's while waiting at the gate and on the journey and before I knew it, we were in Spain!



Symbol of the Madrid!

Getting to the city center was an adventure, to say the least, as we initially ended up in a small suburb of the city. After that minor bump in the road, we arrived in brilliantly sunny Madrid and decided we needed food, and fast! We hadn't eaten in so long and our tummies were craving yummy Spanish food! We opted for a little restaurant on the way to our hostel. As we sat down and began browsing the menu, a man asked if we would take a picture of he and the group of people he was with, so we did. As soon as we returned his camera he instructed us to smile, and he took a picture of the three of us, which was really funny. Then, to add to the moment he asked one of the waiters to take a group shot of us all. After snapping a quick photo for them, we chatted and found out they were a band for one of the Spanish basketball teams that were in town for the national basketball tournament! This band was the perfect welcoming committee to Madrid, and was the perfect representation of how amiable Spanish people are.



With our new friends--a band for a professional Spanish bball team!

After checking into our hostel and regrouping, we made our way to a small restaurant the restaurant recommended for tasty food. Sarah and I split fried brie with raspberry sauce, which was one of the most heavenly things I've ever tasted. Cheese and raspberries? Probably two of the best foods ever created, and of course anything is good when it's deep fried (unless we're talking about hearts). 

Following dinner, we returned to the hostel because we heard there was free sangria, but unfortunately it was canceled that night, which was quite sad. To make up for it we brought some of our new hostel friends with us and sampled some obviously time to try our first Sangrias! We made two friends in the hostel and they joined us for the delicious sweet wine filled with lemons, oranges and limes--yum!

People always say that no matter where you go in the world, people speak English. Let me just go ahead and say this statement is inaccurate, but it was much to my enjoyment. I took Spanish for four years in school, and was always pretty decent but was by no means a master of the language. However, when in Spain I was forced to rack my brain and use my Spanish speaking skills to ask directions, order food and communicate with the locals--it was fun and I felt like all those years of class paid off!

Here are the highlights of what we did throughout the trip!

Walking tour of the city: We went on a walking tour to get our bearings and learn about the richness and history of Spain's capital. It was over three hours but definitely worth it. 

Plaza Mayor! 

Tapas tour for dinner: Tapas are a traditional Spanish style of eating where you share finger foods of different varieties. We ate our tapas the traditional way and went to three different bars to experience food and drink from the north, south and center of the country. Tapas originated because the city was dusty and people didn't want their drinks to become contaminated, so bars began putting pieces of bread on top of the drinks. Some of the tapas we had included bread with ham, cheese or seafood, black pudding and potatoes.

We're a little partial to this name...

Sangria on the Tapas Tour!

Yummy tapas!

Visiting the Prado: This is the second largest museum in Europe, and blew me away. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip because in my last year of Spanish I studied famous art. I never thought I'd have the chance to view so many massive and detailed paintings by El Greco, Goya, Dali and Velázquez, but it blew me away. The painting that I remember best from class is Las Meninas, by Velázquez, and it is my favorite because the way the  painter used depth and space to create a work that seems so real. Fortunately for us, the Prado is currently hosting a Ren Voir exhibit featuring the famous Frenchman's impressionist paintings. I've always been a huge fan of impressionism, and going through this exhibit was so relaxing and beautiful. I love how impressionist paintings have the knack for capturing a feeling and emotion of a landscape or scene.

Impressionism! Yes!

Marcado de San Miguel: We ate our lunch by buying little things to munch on at this indoor market, and it was delicious! The freshness of everything was amazing--Some of the items we tried included bread, meats, cheeses, fish on an orange and meringue.

What an adventurous little eater!

Meringues...we thought they were cupcakes!

Reina Sophia: In this museum we looked at modern art, but our favorite was seeing several works by Pablo Picasso, including the famous Guernica, an icon of the Spanish Civil War. This is another work I studied in class and seeing how massive it was in person was really incredible.

Platanos, rice and beans: This was one of my favorite meals so far of being abroad--yum!

Bar Crawl with our hostel: We went on a bar crawl with our hostel and tried a Spanish favorite at each place. My favorite was the Sangria. Several of our friends from the tapas tour were with us, and we chatted/danced all night.

El Rastro: Spain's boasts the largest outdoor market in Europe, so of course we had to take a Sunday morning stroll! There were hundreds of vendors selling scarves, jewelry and clothes--it was packed! As we left the market we wondered down a side street and found a shop that sold churros. Of course we couldn't resist the deep-fried splendor that was right in front of our eyes, so we indulged. The price? Only 50 cents. Amazing. This shop was definitely a "what you see is what you get" place, because we literally walked to the counter, paid and watched him make it for us right there--no frills. Several locals were in line after us, so we're pretty sure we made a good decision.

El Rastro!

Colors!

50 cent churros...win!

El Palacio Real: This palace was incredible and is the largest in Europe! It was the former home of the Spanish royal family and was an architectural and decorative masterpiece. We were able to tour fifty of the rooms, but apparently there are over 2,000. 

Cupcake break, obviously.

El Palacio Real: The former residence of the Spanish Royal family is the most elegant and ornate building I've ever seen! The interior was mind-blowing because of the size and amazing details. Elise F. counted 338 lions inside...if that gives you any indication of how above and beyond this place was! We toured 50 of the rooms, but apparently there are over 2,000! The whole time I was in there I was thinking of how awesome it would be to use it as a place to play hide and seek!

El Palacio Real!

The Goyas: Throughout the weekend we noticed there was a large, clear tent and a red carpet on the ground outside the Palacio Real, and we finally asked a camera worker what event was taking place. She said the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars would be happening that night, so after eating a hearty dinner of Paella we followed the spotlights in the sky to where the stars would be! We were super close and saw lots of Spanish celebrities (though didn't know who they were.) What was unique about the event was that we got to participate in a demonstration for free expression in Spain. Apparently their minister of arts and culture wants to put a ban on certain websites, so we joined this harmless crew as they protested! Elon School of Communications would be so proud...political engagement and freedom of expression?

The minister of arts and culture is in the red dress. What's up, jumbotron!

Freedom of Expression with V for Vendetta masks.

Using peace signs for more than posing in pictures/ Elise(i)'s  first protest.

Siestas: Each day we followed Spanish tradition and indulged in a siesta. Our room was for four people, but another girl never showed up so we had the place all to ourselves! There were no windows in it so when we shut the door it was completely dark, no matter what time of day. Heaven!

Our trip to Spain was wonderful because it was the first place we visited that was very unlike Ireland. The weather, language, people and food were vastly different, and I loved being in a culture that I've learned so much about while in school.

Ambassador Sarah...sharing peace and well-wishes throughout the world.