The third and last day of our trip we spent exploring the Aran Island of Inish Oirr. The island sits off the coast of Doolin and is the smallest of the three Aran Islands. To get there we had to take a small ferry : ) If you know Chad at all, he gets really sea sick/car sick and basically nauseous on anything that moves so it really surprised me when he suggested taking the ferry over to explore. Thank you Daddy for sending us with a large supply of scopolamine patches!! Chad still got a little green but no barfing!!!
Anyways, the boarded the ferry and took a 40 minute boat ride across the Atlantic Ocean to Inish Oirr. Only about 300 people live on the island. Many are farmers and the rest provide tourism.
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| Our boat was called the Rose of Aran |
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Once we got to the island they had horse drawn carts and bikes to ride to explore the island. We opted to walk though. We started up a big hill to the castle on the island....also originally an O'Brien castle! I'm telling you, I think this family owned every castle in Ireland at some point.
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| Pulling into the bay to park the ferry boat |
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| Fishing gear left on the pier |
After the castle we walked back down the hill and stopped in a little cafe for lunch. All the cafes were in small homes and the food was homemade and delicious. Chad enjoyed a glass of his new favorite drink, Club Orange, and we sat outside to enjoy the weather. The owners dog snoozed outside the entire time despite all the people coming and going.
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| Club Orange....very popular drink in Ireland |
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| Our other lunch on looker |
After our bellies were full we walked along the shore in search of the island's ship wreck and lighthouse. The cargo vessel, the Plassey, wrecked there in the 1960's and was never hauled away. The boat has been moved above the tide over the years and now sits up on a rocky shore. It's like a huge rusty playground : ) Lets just say I hope everyone climbing it was up to date on their tetanus shots. I stayed on the rocks while Chad went aboard...he said he really wanted to climb the the top but some dad was telling his kids it was too dangerous. Chad decided to be a good guy and not make his task that much harder.
We kept walking along the shore with the lighthouse in sight. The best part of the walk (to me anyways) was all the shells. Because most people take the horse carts or bikes they stay on the paths above the rocky shore line. Since we were on foot we walked along the rocks and tide pools where there were TONS OF SHELLS!! ALL FOR ME! I stuffed my pockets with as many shells as I could carry as we walked.
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| me picking up shells...Chad was in charge of the camera |
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| Cute dog walking along the rocks with his famiy....Lola would not have made it! |
After the lighthouse we headed back to the paved path to walk back into town. The entire island is divided into small plots by stone walls. No mortor or brick, just huge stacked stones. Some plots had homes in them and others cows or just empty fields. It was amazing to me to think how long it would take to make those miles and miles of walls. It looked like a huge maze.
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| Taking a nap on the wall |
When we made it back to town we had about an hour before the ferry would be back to get us so we stopped for afternoon tea. The Irish take their afternoon tea seriously. All the cafes serve tea with cream and sugar and a delicious assortment of baked goodies!
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| This sign said everything is homemade from their own eggs and veggies from the garden |
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| My ginormous cinnamon roll and Chad's coffee cake |
After another trip on the ferry (without any puking, yay!!) we got in the car to head back to Dublin. To end our trip we saw the most fabulous rainbow. The neatest part, we could see both ends! I couldn't capture the entire thing on camera but I did get a picture of both sides.
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| Can you see the double rainbow? |
That pretty much sums up my first weekend in Ireland! We had such a fabulous weekend and a great start to my 6 months here. More to come on my Dublin adventures soon!
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