Aran Islands

The Aran Islands are just off the shore of County Clare, there in the middle of the West Coast of Ireland. The nearest one is Inis Oirr in Gaelic, or 'Inishere', and is the smallest in size and in population (about 1,000). Inis Mor, roughly the same in both languages, is the biggest and most commercial, with a population of about 8,000. The last, whose name I forget, has about 2,000. The Aran Islands can only be reached by ferry from either Doolin, to the east, or Galway, to the north.

The Arans were apparently settled way back in the Bronze Age. That's pretty cool.

-The tourist season in Ireland is pretty much May-September, but only truly exists July and August, and so when I was on Inishere the only place serving dinner was the hotel bar. Well worth the visit, even though nothing was open.
-I think the Gaelic-speaking population lies mostly in the northernish parts of the west coast, but also includes the Arans.

As you can see in my photos of Inishere, there were a lot of cool ruins on this small island. Most people lived along the northern coast, but a few lived in farmhouses in the central part, and the land was divided out by stone fences as in the Burren area I walked though. The ruins were also mostly on the northern side, including two churches, one of which was located in the center of a hill but 'underground', and surrounded by a graveyard. There was a stone circle, a small castle, and a rusted-through shipwreck. I never got a story of how the Plassy ended up on the Inishere beach, but maybe I should do some research.

There were only three of us staying in the hostel, and as far as I know, only one other mainlander was staying there that night. Definitely the off-season---during the summer months all the accommodation fills up.

Coming back the seas were so rough that they weren't going to the Inis Mor pier. I thought I was going to be sick on the way back to Doolin. I don't get seasick, so it was interesting.

The ferry back was called the Happy Hooker.