Aran Islands

We left yesterday morning at 9:30am to visit Inismore, the largest of the Aran Islands. It cost: 7 euros for the bus (tickets bought from an Aran Island ticket office, not directly on the bus); 20 euros for the ferry ride, tickets bought at the student rate from our hostel; 10 euros for conveyance in a mini-bus on the island.

And you know what? It was worth every penny.

The journey to get to the Aran Islands took about an hour and a half: the bus ride took about 45 minutes, through Galway and then down a tiny road to a port in Roseveal; then, from Roseveal to the harbor of Inismore is another 40 minutes.

The scenery is so beautiful, and the water isn't Caribbean turquoise, but it is a shimmery blue. The ferry was a large boat with seating on two levels on the inside and a row of seating on the back deck. For the ride over, I stood on the back deck which was very crowded, but I got a good spot by the railing. John sat inside. He doesn't like boat rides. But from where I stood, I could see the coastline of Inismore develop out of the mist, forming into a green and gray island with water lapping against its rocky sides. Ducks sat placidly in swells, and the wind blew a sea-spray into my hair.

Getting off the boat, you walk up a road to a couple of B & B's and restaurants. We stopped at one for lunch, where we were served overpriced but very delicious butternut squash and carrot soup. Further up the road are shops mainly featuring the Aran sweaters, which are very thick to keep out the island's wind. Also on this road is a line of horse and carriages (jaunting cars, they're called), mini-vans/buses, and bike rental places. The drivers of the mini-van/buses are pretty aggressive in trying to get you to pick their van. We payed out our ten euros to a tall man in a striped sweater with bright white hair sticking out in tufts on either side of his head (he was bald in the middle). His name was Sean, and he drove us up to the main attraction, the large ring fort.

The ring fort sits at the top of a large hill, and to get there, you have to go through a visitor center and pay 3 euro. Then, hike up a paved path between stone walls, past the most breathtaking scenery--all rocks and grass and wildflowers and butterflies. Right before you go inside the ring fort, there is a wide plateau where you can see the jagged edges of the coastline of Inismore, all cliffs jutting out of the water 100 meters below. I got as close to the edge as possible to take a picture. One book says that young men used to be lowered on a rope over the edge of the cliffs to seek out birds and birds' eggs.

The fort is surrounded by tall stone walls, set up in two tiers, so it looks almost like stadium seating. It is even higher than the plateau, and the wind was very strong. From the ring fort, you can see almost the whole island. The place looks so wild and barren, and only about 800 people live there, though it used to have a population in the thousands. Inismore used to consist of a monastic community and school; now, from what the tour guide said, the people who live there make their money from cattle farming and tourism.

We walked up to the fort and down from the fort, and we got tea at a tea shop with a thatched roof.

Then, our driver took us around the coast to see the seal colony--a colony of seals uses this island as a place to sun themselves. We weren't able to go down to the beach for a close look, but from where we stood at the top of a hill, we could see a couple of seals sunning themselves on rocks and a few playing in the water.

The driver dropped us back near the harbor, and we browsed the shops until time to go.