The Good Life: Aran Islands

The last couple of days have been downright delightful. I gladly left Dublin on a bus headed west to Galway on yet another sunny day! (It has not rained one drop since I arrived in Ireland. Lucky, I'm told) Galway itself was a cute town. Very touristy. It sortof reminded me of an Irish version of Rockport or something. Lots of little shops and cafes, lots of street musicians playing all kinds of Irish music, my favorite being a girl playing beautiful music on her harp. I was only in Galway for half a day really before getting up early to catch a ferry out to Inis Mor, the largest of the three Aran Islands. The ferry ride was about an hour long and very very windy. I see that being a fisherman in these parts, which there are plenty of, would take some tenacity. I checked into my hostel and rented a bicycle to take a look around the island. SO BEAUTIFUL!!! There are only about 600 people who live on this island which is just a little smaller than Manhattan (10 miles long by 2 across). They all speak Gaelic and live a very traditional lifestyle. Lots of the houses are the old fashioned cob plaster with thatched roofs and there are stone walls absolutely EVERYWHERE!! I biked all day, from one end of the island to the other and then back again with a few excursions on some narrow lanes used to bring cows and horses to their pastures. There are some cars here but some of the natives still get around on horse drawn carts. It's seriously like stepping back in time. It's easy to imagine what life would have been like out here a hundred years ago. I went to a world heritage site called Dun Aonghasa which was a huge iron age fort built on the highest ground of the island. All that remanis of it is a stone circle which was at one time the base of an enormous dome shaped fortress. This was built on the very edge of a huge cliff, probably 500 feet tall, plumiting straight down to the sea. Just incredible. Today I woke up early to the sound of gulls outside my window. I ate toast and tea for breakfast out on the deck of the hostel, looking out over the pier. I'm sunburned and hoping that the clouds will stick around today. I surely did not think I'd need to bring sunscreen to Ireland! I'm going to put on my walking shoes and venture out into some of the areas that I could not go yesterday with my bicycle. It's so nice to be out of the city and in such a peaceful and serene place. The sea air is wonderful and the slow pace of life here is refreshing. Two more days and I'll be on the farm. I'm anxious to meet the people I'll be staying with for September but I'm sure it will all be great. I definetly look forward to not moving around quite so much and not having to pack up all my stuff every couple of days. I'll write again once I'm settled down there. Love to you all!!!