Aran Island

To get to Aran Island, we had to take a bus for 30 minutes and a ferry for an hour. I was practically starving on the ferry (not used to those “continental breakfasts” of OJ and toast) and thrashed back my raging appetite with an instant coffee (*grimace*) and another made-in-Europe chocolate bar that you just can’t get here. As soon as we disembarked, we were accosted by taxi drivers/ tour operators who were vying for our tourist euros… kind of funny actually. You basically make a living on the Island with fishing or tourism. The first guy who approached us was the guy we went with (the other option was to rent a bike, but A) it would be hard to cover the Island in 4 hours and B) the bikes were pretty much spoken for by the absolute HOARDES of French students! Must have been school trip season in Europe). It all worked out though in the end. Our tour guide spoke Gaelic (Irish) and English with a wonderful accent. Easy to tell he did this same tour twice a day and has done so for years, because he talked so fast it was hard to take it all in! His modus operandi was to talk like mad, drop us off periodically to see the sights, hike, etc and then pick us up again. Total price? 10 euros.

The fort (Dun Aengus) was, of course, the highlight. Built on a cliff with a great vantage point over the sea and the Island, it was begun in the middle ages. I was pretty much in awe to see the sky and sea meet in an incredible shade of blue, stretching as far as the eye could see. Indescribable, really.

All of Aran Island, and indeed most of Ireland, is covered with low-lying, hand-built stone walls. They stretch on and on, curving and snaking through the sand, rock and grass, a testament to the industry of the Irish in making arable land from the rock. The walls served both to demonstrate ownership of property, and to clear land for farming and raising livestock.

After the tour, we picked up lunch at the local Spar store, where I tried again to tell the difference between 20 and 50-cent euro pieces. Delicious baguette sandwiches and fruit were enjoyed in the sun… alongside the healthiest and largest seagulls I’ve ever seen. We browsed the gift shops, full of clothes and crafts made by the locals, and then caught the ferry back to Galway. A bit tired and sun-kissed (the trek to Dun Aengus was quite a climb!) but it was definitely worth it.

We had a 20-minute turnover to catch the next bus to Dublin… and we just made it. I tried to stay awake as we passed through Limerick and Athlone, but to no avail. We were checked in to Barnacles in Temple Bar just after 11pm. The front desk guy working the night shift was Canadian – from Hamilton! – one of the many reasons we enjoyed staying at this hostel. We didn’t bother going out that night, although we hit up another Spar for some food. A good sleep was in order.