8 July 2024 Optional Aran Islands Tour
Today we opted to take the optional tour to the windswept Aran Islands where we visited Inisheer (or Inis Oirr), the smallest in this group of islands which is primarily a fishing community. There are three islands (Inishmaan, Inishmore, and Inisheer) that make up the Aran Islands which are located 18 miles off the coast and is the last point of land between Europe and the Americas. They have been inhabited for more than 3,000 years. The residents of the islands are self-sustaining and have learned to augment what little topsoil there is on these limestone islands with seaweed and sand. Electricity did not come to the islands until the 1970s. In addition to farming, fishing provides much of their diet. Today the most famous product of the islands is the Aran sweater, a white cable knit sweater that has become very popular in the 20th-21st centuries.
Barabie's House 
Ruins of Another Castle
Today was by
far the best day of the tour – weather wise.
It was sunny with clear blue skies and not a hint of rain. We traveled by bus to the port town of Doolin
where we boarded a ferry that took us on a 35-45 minute ride to Inis Oirr. Fortunately, it was not windy so we had a
very smooth sailing. And because it was
so clear, we had views of the Cliffs of Mohre.
As we approached the island, you could see the lighthouse on the tip of
the island and the ruins of a shipwreck (more on that later).
There are only 260 permanent residents on the island and one of the few places that still speak Gaelic and practice Celtic customs. The Irish/Gaelic language is a very difficult language to master – it did not derive from either the Germanic or the Romantic languages. After the potato famine, it almost disappeared. Families wanted their children to learn English in case they needed to emigrate and as a result, only English was taught in the schools. In the early 20th century, there was a movement to bring back the Irish language and now the Gaelic language is once again taught in the schools. And it has only been since 1985 that the island now has a high school in addition to its elementary school. Before, high school students had to take the ferry each day to Galway for their education. The high school teaches all subjects in the Irish language – in fact in addition to children on the island, some of the students come from the mainland of Ireland to continue to learn the Irish language.
As an example of the complexity of the language, there is no one word for ‘Hello.” Instead, they use a phrase which loosely translates to “May God be with you.” If you are meeting a person for the first time, you would reply “May God and Apostle Paul be with you.” This would then go back and forth with each person adding another saint or apostle until (1) you run out of names, or (2) you just decided enough is enough. Another word which has no direct meaning in English is “craic” which is pronounced like “crack.” To the Irish it means a good time or a good atmosphere and you hear it a lot while traveling through Ireland. There is also no word for “yes” or “no.” Instead, you get a long explanation as the answer to the question. And there are no curse words in the Irish language.
Upon our arrival we were met by Una, a local who has lived on the island for most of her life and runs a café where we will have lunch later. She took us on a bus tour of some of the highlights of the Island.
Our first stop was to the coastline where the ruins of a massive shipwreck massive of the cargo vessel Plassey that ran aground during a storm in 1960. Fortunately, all the crew and its cargo of whiskey were saved – it is said that there was a very large celebration after the rescue. From this stop you could view the O’Brien Clan Castle built during the 14th century on the highest point of land on the island. We could only view the Castle as it mostly destroyed during Cromwell’s Conquests of Ireland.
Shipwrech 
Ruins of O'Brien's Castle
 |
| Lighthouse on the Island |
We then drove around the island seeing all the fields lined with stone fences finally ending at the Island’s cemetery which was filled with Celtic crosses and a small 10th century church, St. Caomhán (or Cavan) Church, that sits 6 feet below ground as the Atlantic winds buried it in sand. Next to the church is the grave of St. Caomhan, who lived around the 6th century and is the patron saint of Inis Orr. Little is known about him, but the saint’s Pattern Day (the feast date of the patron saint) is on 14 June and is celebrated by an open-air mass.
Etchings Inside St. Caomhan's Tomb 
St. Caomhan's Church 
Cemetery with Celtic Crosses 
St. Caomhan's Tomb 
Fields Lined with Stone Fences
Below the cemetery
is the island’s commercial airport.
There are daily flights from Galway that take a mere 8 minutes to reach
the island.
Horse Drawn Wagon 
Runway Down from the Cemetery
The island has become a favorite camping spot for many of the mainlanders and as we walked down the hill from the cemetery, you could see many tents in the campgrounds with children playing in the small playground or around the fields of the campground.
Some Pictures of the Jellyfish in the Harbor
 |
 |
 |
This evening,
we participated in OAT’s Home Hosted Dinner at the home of a local family. Our group was divided up into smaller groups
with each group going to a different family.
There we enjoyed a traditional Irish dinner and saw first-hand how local
families live their daily lives. Our
group of 5 went to a home which was hosted by the home owner Jerry and his
sister-in-law Mary. There son had just
had their first grandchild and his wife was over in Scotland to see the
baby. The house was a beautiful home
that he had enlarged from the original home which was about 100 years old when
he bought it. However, he kept a lot of
the old features, including the original doors.
He now operates a B&B from the house. Our Trip Leader had told us an interesting
fact about Jerry and that was that he had been a snail farmer. So of course we had to ask him about
that. He said it was actually his wife’s
project that they did together during covid when everything else had shut down.
He said that it required a lot of
preparation. He started by building an
enclosed pen where the soil doesn’t drain well and is not exposed to high
winds. He said that trenches were the
best things to have in the pen. You then add damp loamy
soil. Once you add the snails you need
to feed them with leafy vegetables. Once
the snails have bred and laid their cluster of eggs, Jerry said the hardest
part was carefully moving the eggs to a warm, moist soil so they could
hatch. He said one of the biggest
problems he encountered was if flies got into the pen as they would eat the
eggs and small snails. He only did this
for one year, but he estimated that he was only able to harvest about half of
the snails that hatched. As he said, it
was a lot of time and work for very little return. His sister-in-law, Mary, works with young
autistic children. We had a very good
dinner, starting with black pudding with applesauce as an appetizer. Now I did not ask about the ingredients, but
I know that blood was in there somewhere.
But it did not taste bad. Our
main course was a typical Irish dinner – bacon (what we would call ham),
cabbage and mashed potatoes. And they
kept pouring the wine. It was a very
interesting and fun evening that ended way too soon. We really do enjoy these home-hosted dinners.
Members of our
group usually take a small gift to give to the host family. I have created a small photo book that has
pictures of animals that frequent our home and also some of the scenic sites in
Colorado, such as the Pike’s Peak, the Garden of the Gods and the Air Force
Academy. This has always been a big hit
with the families, especially if they have children. They are really interested in our local
wildlife.
In.
No comments:
Post a Comment