Aran Islands!

After Alisa got out of work last Friday we took a bus over to Galway. We got there about 10 pm, which was about perfect for a Friday night. Galway is a small city, about 70,000 people. It doesn't have a lot of sights to see in the city per se, but it is close to a lot of great things. The other thing about Galway is that it is a university town, so the pub/music scene is very good on weekends.

We walked around the town, checking out the various pubs. Since we were both tired and we had a lot of plans for the next day we decided to just get some ice cream and call it a night. For a weekend trip where you want to "enjoy the pub scene"....or see some cool things (Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher, Connemara)...Galway is a great place.

Alisa with St. Benen's church in the background

Saturday morning we caught a ferry to the Inishmore. We landed on the island about 11 am and immediately rented bikes. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel and grabbing some picnic foods from the "grocery store", we set off to ride around the island. Actually, up and down the island is probably the right way to say it. Inishmore is the biggest of the three Aran Islands, it is 9 miles long by 2 miles wide. About 800 people make their residence here, while almost 2000 tourists come everyday. So there aren't a whole lot of roads.

Since most people go north toward Dun Aonghasa, we rode south toward St. Benen's Church. It is considered the smallest church in the world and measures just 3.2m x 2.1 m. It was originally part of a monastic settlement by St. Benen, a disciple of St. Patrick himself. Apparently it is considered to be a tomb-shrine to St. Benen and has stood unaltered for a thousand years. That's probably why they blocked the entrance. Oops!

I would have needed a sun roof to attend this church.

It was awesome, situated on top of a ridge that allows you to see the Atlantic on one side and the sea toward the Irish mainland on the other. We had the place to ourselves, which was great.

After St. Benen's church we continued south toward St. Enda's church and graveyard. The graveyard was alright but the 1500-year-old church was rather meh. Enda's story is much more captivating than his actual church.

 After the churches we headed over toward the Black Fort to eat our picnic lunch. It was a pretty impressive structure, the stone walls were 18 feet high and 13 feet thick!

Alisa peering over the edge.

The Black Fort was built along the cliff walls. It was probably about a 150 foot drop into the Atlantic.

After eating our picnic lunch at the Black Fort we headed toward the main attraction on Inishmore, Dun Aonghasa. This ring fort was built sometime in the Iron Age, and it's within reason to believe this fort was built a thousand years BEFORE Christ. The coolest feature of the fort though has to be the fact that it's not a complete ring. It's more like a capitol 'C' in that it is built next to a 300 foot cliff that falls off into the frigid Atlantic. 

The tour guide tried reassuring us by telling us that nobody has fallen off the cliff in the 10 years that the fort has been open to the public. I was less than enthused about the cliff and didn't go near it. The ground, being limestone with smatterings of grass, was very uneven. Plus....you know....heights and all.

After Dun Aonghasa we casually rode around the island, marveling at the stone walls that were everywhere. It's unbelievable really. A small island that has a current population of about 800 people is completely gridded by stone walls. The puzzling part of all this is that inside most of the sections was just grass. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that they use a section for crops maybe once every 20 years or so. I guess to let the nutrients in the soil regenerate.

A view from St. Benen's. You can see the stone walls in the distance.

All in all the Aran Islands are definitely my favorite place I've been in Ireland thus far. It was a great time, a little expensive, but the natural beauty we saw there was quite different than anything I've seen before. If you are thinking of visiting Ireland, the Aran Islands are a must-see.

Here is Alisa feeding a horse. What is not pictured is what happened after this horse rejected the grass Alisa offered it. After sniffing the grass, the horse promptly turned around and pooped in Alisa's direction. It was possibly my favorite 10 seconds of the trip!

Alisa and horse. Sans poop.