Aran Islands
1 Oct
It was just getting dark. I had an immediate creepy vibe from the island. It felt barren, cold, and wet. We kept hearing these creepy birds like from some scary forest scene of a disney movie… Cccaw Cccaaw… amidst the old stone ruins.
NO ONE was on the streets.
We walked uphill for what seemed an hour to our hostel, the Manistir House.
The hostel had a beautiful top of the hill view of the bay and sunset – through the fog. We walk into this deserted scary building, the place is totally empty. This is not typical for hostels we’ve previously stayed in. When I say empty, I mean, empty. Nobody to check us in, nobody in the kitchen, nobody in the bathroom, etc. We finally see this African guy who is chatting in the secret hidden employee kitchen… “mmmmkay?” haha. We are finally checked in and shown our room. It was totally different from the internet pictures, but still cozy. The desk guy said it was too late for the ‘vegan buffet’ I was so looking forward to. Instead, he hooked us up with some scones and broccoli soup. We cooked some rice and had a delicious meal.
The sun came up, as it always does, and lightened my mood.
The next morning, breakfast was beautiful. Homemade scones, toast, tea, and music. I thought it couldn’t get any better, then we made plans to rent BIKES! We talked with J, a California boy traveling on his own. He suggested we visit Dun Angus, a castle fort ruins on the western cliffs.
gatas…
We kept eating blackberries from the side of the road and stopping every few feet for pictures. The view from the fort was exceptional. We took a ton of pictures.
I loved laying on the edge and watching the water wash up on boulders close to the edge. Kyle and I rolled around in the grass for a bit.
We visited a small cafe with a fireplace for some fresh scones and homemade tomato soup. We rode back to town alone the coast, and checked out some graveyards and farm ruins.
It amazed me how few trees were on the island. it was covered in overgrown, dry stone wall lined pastures. Some had a cow, some sheep, or goats. Most were empty, bought and forgotten by some farmer without the need for them, or some family member forgotten. We got groceries for dinner, cooked up a nice one, then headed to the -yes- ‘American Bar’ for some drinks with J, who happened to be the bartender. The jukebox at the bar was extensive, with some typical American favorites. I was happy with Damien Rice and the Corrs.
Ky and J.
Toward the end of our time at the bar an old gentleman with very few teeth chatted us up. He was wasted. I felt sad, but his laugh was so genuine… it made me think this level of drunkenness was ok in this Irish culture. A remarkable event of the evening was when a young Scottish boy started singing into an upside down bar stook leg with his friends surrounding him, arms on shoulders, belting out an early 90s love song. HYSTERICAL.
The bike ride back was soooo long… uphill.. in the lowest gear. Sleep was delicious.
The next day we checked out some really isolated cliff views and an old stone ruin. Words will do it no justice. We hiked around for hours, even though there were very ominous looking storm clouds looming overhead. We searched for a while for these supposed “blowholes” J told us about. They are holes in the ground that open to ocean-filled caves. You look down and see and hear the water as it crashed. Supposedly, years ago, this is where they threw Irish King’s bodies after they died so they could float out to sea… meaning.. many people went treasure-hunting around these parts. We searched, followed random footpaths, and FINALLY spotted the caves facing downward. We climbed somewhat into them. There were mossy moist ledges but they didn’t take you all the way to the bottom flat rock. The ocean appeared greenish and bright as it crashed upon the rocks. It was from the Goonies. I just stared wide-eyed in amazement.
We left the following day after a beautiful seafood dinner and a hot whiskey/lemon/clove/sugar “Irish tea.”
We also made friends with lots of wild cats on the island. Scot particularly loved this one.
We headed back to Galway, where we said GOODBYE to Naomi.
She’s a crazy girl, I’ll never forget her.
Our next stop; a B&B in Kilkenny to visit Scot’s great aunts and ancestor’s town of Dunmore.
MRumianowski
those are some really amazing pictures. i’m going to save the rest of this for tommorow.