Escape to Inishmore

Though I spent a few days in Galway, this trip deserves it's own post. Monday the 22nd was the trip to the Aran Islands, a group of three Island in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Galway. We were only visiting the biggest island, Inish Mor. After waking up rather early to catch the bus to the ferry we were on the Island. My host, Celia, was accompanying me. Once on land, bicycles were rented and we were off. Perhaps a taste of the Irish luck, the sky was clear with the sun all day, not a touch of gray.
The Island itself is small, only 12 miles by 2 miles approximately. Though the island is inhabited and there are some shops and bars near the docks, most of it is barren with only about 3 to 4 inches of topsoil. Aside from natural rock formations there are many traditional Irish fences made up of thousands and thousands of elaborately placed stones. In the more desolate parts, set against the landscape, they give the Island the look of an alien planet.
Inhabiting many such plots are countless cows, goats and horses grazing or just lounging in the fields which are rich with the aforementioned Irish grass. Another highlight are the beaches around the Island. Though they were too cold to swim in the water was as blue as any tropical beach, with grey-whitish sand to boot.

After a bit of riding around we found some coastline to explore. The Island had decided I needed to get my feet wet, literally. As I approached the coast walking on what I thought was rocks covered in seaweed, I stepped onto a piece that was just seaweed and water underneath. Fortunately, I was wearing water resistant shoes which are apparently quite good at keeping the water in the shoe as well! That wasn’t going to stop this traveler though.
In no particular hurry (we’d arrived at 11 and the ferry was at 5), we stopped for an extended lunch by the water. Having worked on our tans in the Atlantic breeze we set off. Upon trying to make it to the other side of the Island, we’d realized there were no roads around so we had to double back. This put us on a rocky uphill road that brought us to the highest point on the Island. From here we could see both mainland Ireland and the open ocean.


Lost in the Island frame of mind it had dawned on us that our ferry was leaving in no more than 45 minutes (not true, I find the Irish time approximation is more akin to Italy than Germany) and we were on a rarely used road with crappy bikes in the middle of the bloody Island. Fortunately, the nice climb meant that all that was left was a bumpy descent. We actually made it back in time and caught the frigid ferry ride back, satisfyingly exhausted and dreaming of hot tea.

As usual more photos available @ dimakay.fotki.com