Hanging Over Some Cliffs - Day Trip to the Aran Islands

Yesterday I made yet another little trip to another one of Ireland's most beautiful places: the Aran Islands. For some more info on the islands, visit my good friend, Mr. Wikipedia right here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aran_Islands. For our day trip, we visited the largest of the islands called Inishmore.

We were up early and got a bus from our housing complex at 9 AM. After about an hour bus ride we hopped on an Aran Island ferry and made another 40 minute trip across Galway Bay to Inishmore. It was yet another beautiful day of sunny skies. This past week the weather literally never changed from blue skies and sun; it was awesome. When we got to the island and off the ferry, we all rented bikes and began our journey along the coast of the 9 mile island. On our trip up the coast, we stopped to make friends with some horses, chickens, and cows, took plenty of pictures of the winding stone walls and farms scattered around the landscape, and eventually came upon a small beach. As a group of us laid down in the tall grass along some cliffs near the beach, we looked down and to our amazement, watched as two random men stripped down and ran into the water. Confused and a little disturbed, we decided it was as good a time as any to continue our bike ride.

Our final stop on our bike ride before turning around and heading back to the ferry was possibly my favorite thing I've seen so far in Ireland. I know that I've said that for about a dozen different things but if you see the pictures, you'll see why I am positive this time that it's my favorite. Dun Aengus (or Dún Aonghasa in Irish) is an ancient Iron Age fort that sits atop cliffs that are over 300 feet tall. After making a long hike up some steep hills, we got to the fort and once again were awe-struck by its size and beauty. We walked to the edge of the cliffs and realized that it was totally open, giving us the chance to just sit with our feet hanging over, looking out onto the Atlantic Ocean. We all sat together and didn't really say much as we were all a little shocked at what we were seeing. Below us was only ocean and some rocks jutting out from the water. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend too much time there, but that half hour or so may have been my favorite half hour of all my sightseeing times here in Ireland.

Once again it was a great day. We had a great bike ride, saw some incredible scenery, and got to spend some amazing time at Dun Aengus. I don't know how I'm going to be able to contain all these memories in my mind once I get home in May. I think I'll find a way though.

Thanks for reading!

Conor