Glasgow's Artists

-

It wasn't until visiting the market in Edinburgh that I realized how much I missed browsing art and handmade crafts.  I hardly ever buy anything, but I enjoy looking at everything; it's like an interactive museum where you can buy the art on display.  In my hometown, there's a farmer's market every Saturday from fall through spring, called the Green Market.  It's right along the waterfront with music, food, and sometimes antiques. If we managed to wake up early enough, my mom and I would go down to the Green Market, find our favorite snacks (usually mini apple cider donuts and smoothies) and then browse through the tents of antiques.  I felt like there was always this anticipation of the possibility of finding something special and unique.  If you're lucky, it's good quality too.  My treasured find is a thumb ring that I still wear today, ten years later.  

I had that similar feeling at the Grassmarket in Edinburgh.  It was so exciting to look through all the booths and appreciate the art and handmade jewelry.  So I decided to look for similar events near us.  I figured the Glasgow or merchant city had to have something, and I think I found a possible favorite. The Merchant Square Craft & Design Fair is a free event every weekend that features handmade crafts made in Glasgow. No admission fee, no early morning hours, a huge downtown venue, and only a cheap train ride away....yes please!!

Popular posts from this blog

New Year, New Country

-
Image
In October, Pedro turned to me and said, "Pick a country and we'll go there for your birthday."  Immediate whirlwind of thoughts and ideas. Do we go somewhere with snow? Get warm? East? West?  At first I picked Iceland.  It's been on my list for awhile, and I figured January might have a greater chance for us to see some northern lights.  However, once we compiled a list of things we wanted to see and stuff we wanted to do, we realized winter was not going to be the best time for us to visit, so we pivoted.   Pedro's always wanted to visit Spain, see his roots.  And I thought it'd be great to visit a more Summery country when it's not so hot.  Barcelona it is!  And this trip was going to be different, as in an actually being a holiday. Relaxing, meandering, enjoying the sights instead of our usual GO GO GO.  We have a big habit of mapping out every second, and while it's great to cover so much ground in a short amount of time, we end up ...
Read more

Aeri de Montserrat

-
Image
 Today we had a late start, I was not feeling the best.  I had a pretty sore throat with a cough, so Pedro ran out to the nearest pharmacy to get me some cough syrup.  After some food, we made our way to Montserrat.  The metro sell all inclusive passes for the metro and train to Montserrat, with transport up the mountain to the abbey, along with all access to the basilica, museum and a meal. Not bad for a day trip!  There is a train or a cable car up to the mountain, which you must pre-book when buying the ticket.  We chose cable car for the views. It was about an hour train to the station just below the abbey, where we needed to wait for the cable car.  The ride was only 5 minutes to the top, though we didn't take into account it only fits about 20 people at a time.  So we were waiting for awhile, but at least we had a gorgeous view.  The view at the top felt larger than life.  The abbey built into the mountain looked perfectly nestled....
Read more

La Sagrada Familia

-
Image
We planned to revisit Montserrat to explore a bit more, but unfortunately I got worse overnight.  Fever, chills, and horrible coughing had us up have the night, with me having no energy to go anywhere the next morning.  Pedro went back to the pharmacy to get more medicine and cared for me all day, in the hopes I'd feel better for our tour today. Luckily, with my fever broken and strong foreign cough sweets, I was able to leave the hotel (walking slowly). But I was looking forward today, I was grateful he made me rest because I did not want to miss going back to La Sagrada Familia and see his reaction to it.   Our tour was guided through the church, with access one of the towers.  It being Three Kings Day, we had one of the last slots before the church closed early.  Three Kings Day is almost the equivalent of Christmas Eve, we saw many traveling with presents (as the Three Wise Men did).  I know this has been under construction since 1882, but last tim...
Read more