Aran Islands

limestone

Family and Friends,

As you might have seen from my Facebook posts, we recently visited the Aran Islands. For those of you who don’t know, the Aran Islands consist of three islands, the largest of which is only 9 miles by 3 miles. We took a short ferry ride to the largest of the three islands. Upon arrival, we dumped our things at the hostel where we stayed and hoped on the bus for a tour of the island. We were supposed to take a bike tour, but the weather was so wet and cold that the bus suited better. This little island consists of only 800 people, and they make a living off of either fishing or tourism. The island is covered in limestone, so any soil they do have is only about 6 inches to a foot deep. Some locals in the area will even go to such lengths as removing the loose limestone and make their stone fencing out of it, then place seaweed on top of the stone so the soil has a better chance at survival for their livestock. It was truly eye opening to see how the people of Aran Islands live. They use everything to its fullest and adjust to living in their conditions. We ended our tour with a 7mile hike up to a fort called Dun Aonghasa. It is believed that certain parts of the fort date all the way back to 700 B.C. and it sits at the highest point on the island, protected by the 300 foot cliff on one side. Once I was at the top, I really appreciated the poor weather at that point, because then you could really see the impact the sea can have. The waves were unreal, and I think people sometimes forget how dangerous the sea can really be. As we made our trek back down to sea level, we stopped and were able to see tar left over from all the past fishermen. The fishermen would pull their boats onto land and paint the bottoms of them with tar to make them more durable. The tar outline of the boats is still sealed to the limestone today. It was really amazing to see how even though Aran Islands don’t offer the best living conditions, the locals make the best of what they have and they’re passionate about their homes and lifestyles. I also have a new appreciation for fishermen; the sea can have a tendency to not be so kind all the time.

Sending my love!

Regan

entrance to the fort

edge of the cliff