We woke up early Thursday morning and drove about an hour and a half up the mountains to find some stables...in a really small town...There were A LOT of switchbacks as you can see from our GPS. The road we drove up would barely fit two cars driving side by side. We saw a few buses coming down and we were heading up and I had to hold my breath that we didn't get pushed over the edge! These drivers are crazy! Crazy Good!
We had to stop and ask for directions a couple of times and then finally reached our destination! Horse Heaven! The horses/barns/stalls we are in one area so as they were saddling up the horses the others that were being left behind were just roaming around us. Pretty cool!
I wish we would have taken a picture with our entire group. We also rode with 3 girls from England. A mother (Allison), her daughter (Chloe), and stepdaughter (Lucy). They were a fun bunch and we had all sorts of fun conversations about life in England vs. life in Texas.
We took a short break in a open field to take in the view. The horses got to stop and munch for a bit. My horse's name was Taello.
Some of the trail was on gravel road but most of it was on the side of the mountain, walking through rocky and grassy trails.
It was a BEAUTIFUL sight! We stopped to eat lunch about 3 hours into the ride. Our guide packed us some salad with tuna, boiled eggs, bread, olives, canned white asparagus. And of course some good ol' spanish wine! The people of Spain drink some form of alcohol at every meal and snack time throughout the day. Even breakfast! It's crazy!
My horse was a full bred Andalusian. We rode English style which I had never done before. I wish I had my boots since my feet did tend to slip but it was still a lot of fun! Our entire ride was 6 HOURS LONG!!!
Poor Tyler! The good thing is you could get off and walk your horse at any time so Tyler took advantage of that a couple times.
As we neared home the horses got really antsy since they smelled home and started getting a bit mischievous! But we all survived. Here we are with our guide Dallas(originally from England). She told us 6 hours in a stroll in the park for these horses. She usually takes people on a week to two week long trips on horseback! We were lucky she had a free day to squeeze us in.
After our long ride we walked around the small town a bit and ended up at a really awesome souvenir shop and bought most of our souvenirs there. They had handmade fruit flavored chocolate that was amazing! I got to practice my spanish with the owner's wife while Tyler chatted with the owner and I was surprised at how much I could get by with!
We were soooo hungry after riding! And tired! and sore! We ate at our usual breakfast spot for dinner. Had some fried fish for a starter.
We tried a paella mixture for dinner with fried squid, prawns, muscles, fish, and chicken! I tried it all. Seafood isn't my favorite but I did try everything!
Here is Tyler with his prawn.
For dessert we had THICK CREAMY hot chocolate with churros. That reaaaaally hit the spot!
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