The Aran Islands

10/1/2010

This week has been crazy with orientation and wandering around the city and exploring. I am beat and it’s just starting up!
Yesterday Mary and I made it to the Aran Islands! We rode the ferry over to Inish Moor and stupidly turned down a driven tour in favor of some bikes.

We walked to our hostel and dropped our things off after the ferry and stopped in the sweater market. The store was freezing, but there were enough sweaters in there to warm everyone in Minnesota! There were tons of colors and styles and hats and mittens to boot.

Time for bikes! But no shops were open! All of the tour businesses shut down right after the people on the ferry get on their way and open in the evening to recollect their bikes. We walked around the beach and found a pair of bikes outside a closed shop with a sign that asked for pay upon return. We grabbed them and began our treacherous adventure.

We did have a map, but we definitely just went where we pleased. Instead of seeing the usual sites, we decided to scale a mountain that just about stopped my heart. The castle that was at the top was closed for restoration but the view was worth the sweat and really made the trip. Behind the castle there was a path that, although not paved and clearly not intended for the public, we thought it would be fun to explore. We ended up in the middle of nowhere with a great view by some goats and HUGE horned and scary cows. We turned around and went down the mountain and continued to annoy the locals with our shrill giggles. I am sure we passed one guy four or five times. The sun was setting so we turned back to the area we were staying at.

Later we found that the mountain we climbed was the highest point in the Aran islands... to our legs it definitely felt like it!

We walked the beach and looked at the washed up bones and pieces of crab. I accidentally left the shells I collected but man were they cool. We returned the bikes and wedged a 20 Euro in the door of the shop and headed to the closed tourist information shop before getting some fruit. After a shower we headed to the American Bar… I’m not kidding. The food was really amazing.

In the evening, we warmed ourselves by a fire in a nearly empty pub before heading over to another spot. There was a concert for music students earlier in the night and the students then walked over to the pub and played. It was really quite amazing and something I will not forget. A priest also grabbed a guitar and sang a tune. It was a really a great evening with a group of extraordinary people. The locals took a while to warm up to us but were the funniest people you’d ever meet. If this is a sign for what the next months are going to be then I am super excited.

Pictures to come soon!