We took an all day trip today to the Aran Islands and it was a lot of fun and incredibly beautiful.
We started with a ferry ride from Galway to the Aran island of Inishmore which is the larges of the 3 Aran islands and the most populated. The ferry ride proved to be very pretty and interesting. We saw a seal in the harbor right away, and then along the way we saw Murre (birds which are fairly rare in the US) as well as Gannetts and others.
Seal in the Harbor on the Island
Murres
Gannett
In so many of the homes here there are animals. They graze in fields that are near and far from the homes. Sometimes you’ll see sheep in fields where there are no houses around at all, and other times you’ll see a horse asleep steps from a front door. They are everywhere. Also in all of the areas we’ve seen, but especially so on the Aran Islands, the land is separated by “fences” made of stone. This is partially to clear the stone from the ground and partially to separate off small areas for different livestock to graze. It also serves as a shield from the wind.
A horse grazing with a Stone fence in the background
After we arrived on the island we took a short walk to a pub called Ti Joe Watty’s where we had soup and sandwiches. The owner also told us stories of the island history and of life on the island now. He also sang a few songs for us. He was a fascinating guy. He was passionate about the Aran islands and keeping the lifestyle here going. For a period of time you could only attend high school on the mainland of Ireland so many of the kids of earlier generations left at 14 to attend boarding school and never returned. Now there are high schools on the islands and a real effort to make sure that the lifestyle survives. It’s not easy because the weather can effect when the ferries run, and it can take you days to get to the island or get back if there’s bad weather. It’s very beautiful there but the only industries on the main island are tourism and wool so it’s hard to make a real living. The wool from the islands is the most sought after wool for sweaters in Ireland. Many families also supplement their incomes by growing some of the food that they need and selling things like goats milk etc…
Ti Joe Watty’s
Once we finished lunch the owner had a couple of vans arrive to take us to the fort at Dun Aonghasa, The fort is at the highest point of all of the islands and sits atop some really beautiful cliffs. The visitors center is at the bottom and it’s a pretty good and steep hike to the top but well worth the views.
The Cliffs
Looking straight down 300 feet from the edge of the cliff
We talked to a young man at the top who was working there and asked about the lack of fences and that everyone can go right up to the edge. It’s really wonderful for viewing but we wondered about people falling off and he said that they had not had any fatalaties in recent times, but that with the advent of the selfie stick he’s sure that it will happen soon enough because people really get caught up in taking pictures of themselves and forget to be aware of their surroundings. He also told us that the Cliffs of Moher that we will see tomorrow have more fatalities but those are mostly suicides and not people falling. He was very nice.
The cliffs
Conrad sitting near the edge
Shawn sitting near the edge
The cliffs
The cliffs
The path to walk back down to the parking area – you can see it winding in the distance all the way down to the water in the distance.
It was a long climb up to the fort but most of our group made it including an 84 year old woman who has been really putting us all to shame on this trip. She’ll be the first one in the bar tonight for a pint of guinness.
Landscape and a view of the rocky soil on the island
An example of the rock walls that are all over Ireland
When we got back to the hotel after a very full day we decided to eat in the hotel instead of walking into town, our waiter was definitely struggling to keep up with the tables that he had but now and then a more senior waiter came and helped him by delivering his food or clearing plates from his tables. We called him over and spoke with him. His name was Zoltan and he told us that here they all work as a team, one person takes the orders for the a la carte tables (not part of large groups) and then the others assist as needed and that they all pool their tips. Zoltan was clearly the most experienced of the bunch but he seemed not to mind helping the others and was very nice. Our food was excellent and the wine was also very good. Twin Rivers – an Australian Chardonnay may be a new favorite.
When we went to bed at 10 PM it was still light and it was light again before 5AM – the summer days are very long here.