Aran Sweater Market
Lighthouse
Unbelievable Cliffs
Traditional Irish MusicTuesday, March 30th
Things turned around nicely today. I set off on an hour busride about 9am to a small town up the coast. Then, I took a 40 minute ferry boat to Inis Mor - the large island in the chain of 3 islands called The Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. Inis Mor is the largest of the 3, and the one most frequented by tourists.
The Aran Islands are famous for their unique way of life, where age old traditions co-exist with modern living. Galeic is the predominant language spoken. I was amazed to see sunshine today. It didn't last long, but it was enough to make it very enjoyable.
When getting out of the ferry, I decided to make my way around just by walking. Many folks rented bikes or hired a tour shuttle. We arrived at the island at 11am and our departure was set for 5pm. I knew that I could make some good ground in that amount of time.
One of the biggest draws to the Aran Islands is the Aran sweaters. I'm not much of a fashion guru; but these were great sweaters. They had a demo showing how they were made. The wool comes from the sheep and is the heart of the process. It takes roughly 60 hours to knit 1 sweater. The sweaters contain many different stitch patterns - all meaning something unique. It was said that the pattern worn by a particular family inidcated their way of life.
After visiting a few of the shops in town, I took to the road to see the sites. The island was 2 miles wide and 9 miles long. I covered about half of it during the day. There was one area where you could walk right up to the edge of the cliff. It was a bit scary. Again - very similar to the Cliffs of Moher - just less recognized. It was truly an amazing site. I can't believe people have this to look at everyday outside their window. I took some neat pictures of some old temples, a really cool light house, and a seal colony. It was a great walking/hiking day.
I took the 40 minute ferry and 1 hour bus back into Galway. I checked my email and a couple hostel friends had emailed me - they were in town. I met up with them for dinner and some traditional music. It's 11:45pm now. I need to get packed as I'll be heading out tomorrow to Northern Ireland via a long busride. I don't know all the specifics yet - but Northern Ireland is actually part of the UK. They use pound instead of euro and are protestant instead of catholic. I'm going to lay low a bit and hope to have some scoop for you in the next couple days.
Nice bounce-back day.
Things turned around nicely today. I set off on an hour busride about 9am to a small town up the coast. Then, I took a 40 minute ferry boat to Inis Mor - the large island in the chain of 3 islands called The Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. Inis Mor is the largest of the 3, and the one most frequented by tourists.
The Aran Islands are famous for their unique way of life, where age old traditions co-exist with modern living. Galeic is the predominant language spoken. I was amazed to see sunshine today. It didn't last long, but it was enough to make it very enjoyable.
When getting out of the ferry, I decided to make my way around just by walking. Many folks rented bikes or hired a tour shuttle. We arrived at the island at 11am and our departure was set for 5pm. I knew that I could make some good ground in that amount of time.
One of the biggest draws to the Aran Islands is the Aran sweaters. I'm not much of a fashion guru; but these were great sweaters. They had a demo showing how they were made. The wool comes from the sheep and is the heart of the process. It takes roughly 60 hours to knit 1 sweater. The sweaters contain many different stitch patterns - all meaning something unique. It was said that the pattern worn by a particular family inidcated their way of life.
After visiting a few of the shops in town, I took to the road to see the sites. The island was 2 miles wide and 9 miles long. I covered about half of it during the day. There was one area where you could walk right up to the edge of the cliff. It was a bit scary. Again - very similar to the Cliffs of Moher - just less recognized. It was truly an amazing site. I can't believe people have this to look at everyday outside their window. I took some neat pictures of some old temples, a really cool light house, and a seal colony. It was a great walking/hiking day.
I took the 40 minute ferry and 1 hour bus back into Galway. I checked my email and a couple hostel friends had emailed me - they were in town. I met up with them for dinner and some traditional music. It's 11:45pm now. I need to get packed as I'll be heading out tomorrow to Northern Ireland via a long busride. I don't know all the specifics yet - but Northern Ireland is actually part of the UK. They use pound instead of euro and are protestant instead of catholic. I'm going to lay low a bit and hope to have some scoop for you in the next couple days.
Nice bounce-back day.
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