Today turned out to be a glorious weather day, full sun and hot! Since the rest of the riding group was going to be scaling some rough mountains, decided that it was perfect timing to explore the Aran Islands, a group of three islands off the western shores of Ireland; the most popular (and largest) of the islands has the most to see, called Inishmore.

So after a quick and uneventful breakfast at the Peacocks Hotel in Maam Cross, I drove down to take the 40-minute ferry ride to Inishmore (Inis Mór). It's a bit of a weird island, with the ferry entrance feeling much like a Caribbean port entry, packed with tourist shops, 4 or 5 different bike rental outfits (visitors can't bring cars across), guided horse carriages, small tourist vans and places selling the world famous Aran wool sweaters.

The best way to tour the island is on bicycle, and with the weather cooperating, I was one of many tourists on a 10 Euro per day rental mountain bike. The interesting thing is that once you leave the immediate vicinity of the harbour, things settle down into island living pretty quickly; ironically, given how heavily the island is promoted, some of the tourist hotspots aren't that well marked, nor are directions that clear. Regardless, I did manage to visit the Seven Churches (Na Seacht dTeampaíll), monuments and bike through local villages. Here are a few photos.

pony in front of old secondary house on Aran Island

Aran Island horse on way to stone monument

historic monument on Inishmore, Aran Islands

Seven Churches, Aran Islands, Ireland

The largest attraction, however is Dun Aengus (Dún Aonghasa), a large prehistoric fort perched on a cliff. It's visually extremely stunning; however, on a warm, sunny day like today, the place is overrun with tourists.

Dun Aengus (Dún Aonghasa)

Dun Aengus (Dún Aonghasa), Ireland

Dun Aengus (Dún Aonghasa), Aran Islands

Dun Aengus (Dún Aonghasa), Inishmore, Ireland

I finished up with a nice picnic lunch overlooking the ocean and crashing waves, before taking the ferry back and meeting up with the rest of he crew at Wellfield Farmhouse B&B in Oughterard, Galway. The host Mary met me, and after settling into I went to our room, went for a short bog on the gravel road through the peat bog out back. Once everyone came back, we walked across the road to Mary's brother's B&B, where we had a lovely pasta dinner. Finally, although we were all beat, some of went to Faherty's Bar for a Guinness - with that it was back to the B&B and straight to bed!

ocean waves on Inishmore, Aran Islands, Ireland

08/15/09 by visitEarth
Tags: Aran Islands, Inishmore, Inis More, Ireland, Aran Sweaters, Dun