Aron Islands

Like stepping into another time. The Aron islands were one a part of the Burren, which is the haunting and remote western coast of Ireland. There are three islands; inis Mor, inis meain, and inis oirr. The residents that dwell here, all 800 or so, retain the only living Celtic culture. They speak primarily Irish, but most know English as well. They are famous for there had knit wool Aran sweaters. The origins of these sweaters lay within the family lineages of the islands. They initially were knit by the woman, each family having there own unique stitch. Those who still knit these sweaters, keep with the tradition and stitch of there own family, making each shop that has them unique in there own way. The largest, containing the most ancient sites is inis Mor. This is where I, thankfully stumbled out of bed despite sans alarm clock, to head off to today. Can't forget about first indulging in the stupedious complimentary breakfast of cornflakes or toast. This has got to be the universal hostel breakfast, in caparison to continental breakfast just discusting. Hey I'm not complaining. Packed my eighth peanut butter and jelly of the week and off I go.
The bustier from Galway takes about an hour and the ferry ride is about forty five minutes. ThE seas we crossed were billowing with waves. They actually seemed quite intimidating. I kept thinking as I got closer and closer to the coSt and could view the break, that this would be a very interesting, let alone extremely remote, place to go on a surf trip. Sure enough as I got off the fairy I walked past another ferry unloading kite boards for a couple of backpackers. There is actually one hotel on the island. The island is relatively small, about nine miles around to the major sites, and all very a cesible by bike. I decide to rent a bike for the day. Just as I thought, finally alone on this trip I've been trying to take alone, a sweet little lady rides next to me while I'm starting of. I couldn't refuse. She was from Venzuela. Her English is pretty good for conversation, but she said she has a hard time understanding the maps and getting directions. We set of. She turned out to be a wonderful traveling companion.
The lanscape of this island was unreal. The land and field were brides out and separated by extensive rock fences. All still maintained by the communities of farmers. The houses are very old tradition, some evn having thatched roofs. It is a bit windy, and I am assuming it rains a lot. It only sprinkled briefly a couple times while I was visiting however, I also was suprised to find out from one of the ladies at the shop, Victoria from Venezuela has a charming way abPout her of engaging with anyone she is interested in all of five foot and a really eccentric and excitable landy, that you can harvest year round. An extremely self sustainable island. Blackberry bushes grow all along the rock fences and wild flowers are strewn all throughout the green fields. It is hard to go far without stopping to take in the diverse and unique landscape. Not to mention the numerous ruins of old Celtic forts, early Christian churches beehives and small monastery ruins, from first century Christians to Ireland. The most famous being teampall bheanain, the worlds smallest church, and teampall mhic dhuach. The most famous feature of the island is the hill fort Dun Aonghas, the most spectacular semi circle Celtic stone fort. Going to this excavated site alone would have made the trip worth it. After stopping in the one other little, two shop one cafe town on Opposite side of the island from where our ferry dropped us off, we heading that way. Not without first collecting an Aran hand knit wool sweater for Zoie. And yes, I will kill you megan if you ever get rid of it.
You have to park your bike before gaining access into the site, and then walk up the stone pathway to it. More breathtaking than the fort itself I can easily say, is the famous cliffs, that had once been a part of the long stretch of sea cliffs expanding down much of the wester coast of Ireland. ( still working on those pictures, along with more than four or five hours of sleep a day.) it was ripping wind from time to time and rain showers danced across the expansive Atlantic. You could walk right up to the edges, it was a bit eery. Breathtaking. The sun broke thru and the ocean turned baby blue in the spots hitting the bottom of the, had to of been, hundred or more foot, cliffs. Victoria and I yelled and jumped with excitement. For all the people who got off the ferry we didn't cross paths with more than one or two people at any point. I also don't think many of the other passengers wanted to take on the wind and chance of rain. Victoria and I were determined. In her adorable Spanish accent she said, " I could see nothing more and go home happy". And just kept repeating I am so happy.
I have found that on my trip so far I have warmed up to the older woman I meet, much more so than any of the other travelers. Even the multitude of young travelers, all about my age, seemed shocked that I could do such a thing and not be lonely. Many of them have assumed I am much older until they finally approach ,e about my age. It is funny too, because despite that fact that none of them have been more than a year younger than I am, I see them all as very young. I have been fortunate in that all of them are very sweet. The two Italian kids, 22 year olds I should say ivied me to stay with them in Naples Italy, or at the very least allow them to show me the town for the day. The same with the Spanish and German visitors. As much as I try to go off on my own I feel like I cannot escape friendly faces. I shouldn't complain about this by any means. The two Italian boys flattered me by sharing with me, " that there is something we must tell you, in all of our travels we have never seen such a beautiful woman as brave as you.". It took a lt for them to spit it out.
I suppose my attraction to the woman that I have met, is that most of the ones I have designated time for, inspire me. Victoria and Noel among them were both strong spirited women. It is wonderful to take pieces of people I meet and who I admire. From those I have met in life, and and fortunate to still come across, it is like I aspire to be like that one day. This must be a reason for attraction to and gravitation towards these sort of woman on my travels, I can't say there have been many instances in my life where I have met a man and said, "I would really like to be like that some day." Victoria and I also have the same birthday we found out, making us both rambunctious leos.
After our over stimulating visit to the ancient Celtic site we hustled back to the main town to catch the fairy. We took the inland road, which had even more spectacular sights and ocean views that stretched our over the maze of hundreds of stone fences. Structures of long Histories and of the ancient past fill the landscape. It was a stunning adventure.
After returning Victoria and I walked around town to find a good, and affordable place to eat. We stumbled across a great Italian run pizza and pasta parlor. I had pizza with potato and onion, strange but it looked and tasted delicious. I feel like I'm carb loading, between the pbj's, starch bar breakfast and beer almost every night, but nothing has preservatives and I walk so much I think it makes no difference. Fruits and vegetables are easy to grab on the go as well, and I always have some stashed away on me. Victoria and I chatted for a long time, until I had to help her find her way back to her hostel. Due to her thrill and excitement it is hard to keep her attention. She managed to have the band that had just assemble in the street play a song for me, and almost had them pack back up, ready to go out to the pub. Free spirited nature isn't in short supply here. It is such a remarkable way to see people love there day to day life's that way, an unrestricted by the miniscule stresses of life.
When I finlly got viotoria back to her hostel, she wrote down her name, email, phone number, oh wait there's more, and address so if the other venues don't seem to be adequate enough, I can just show up in Venezuela, and the door is open. She does a lot of hiking and camping alone in the mountains and loves to travel. She has two children my age, a son and daughter. She wanted to look after me I think. She was adorable. Interesting suggestions on camping gear which tied in with my interests of Scottish history. She had come from Edinburgh, which is my stop after Dublin. She informed me that she found out, while there, that there is no privately owned property in Scott and, outside the cities. Many people live in tents in the hills and mountains, like a part of the culture. You literally can gypsy around the highlands. Without adequate gear however this would be suicide. I am sure there were far more points of interest. All packed up and finally reorganized from my scramble around this far. Check out by 10:30 , then lock my bags to take one last walk around Galway before catching the bus back to Cork at half eleven, as they say 11:30 here. Take care and goodnight.
- love, Sierra