Ireland - Aran Islands

So, I decided that it was about time that I restarted my travel posts. In continuation of our 2014 European trip - here's a post from the Aran Islands in Ireland.



The Aran Islands are a group of  three islands off the west coast of Ireland. Each of the islands has a small airport but the main way to get there as tourists is by ferry from either Doolin or Galway.

We opted to catch the ferry from Doolin and spent the day on Inishmore - the largest and most popular. We hired a bike when we got there and cycled off towards the NW tip of the island. If we were to go there again, we would either stay the night or go to one of the other islands. We felt we were pressed for time all day and I struggled on the bike. If I remember correctly, we had 5 hours total and got back to the wharf with about 15mins to spare. It was a very picturesque island, although because we were there at peak time it was very busy. I'd love to experience it after all the day tourists had gone home for the day.

The view from the wharf at Doolin. There's a little beehive-looking structure on the little island.

What we thought was the queue for our ferry - most of these people were waiting for a tour for the Cliffs of Moher. Had to push our way through the throngs to reach our boat.

The view of the Cliffs of Moher from our ferry.

Inisheer from the ferry

Inisheer

A beautiful dolphin that decided to have a bit of fun. Well done to AJ on getting this picture - it disappeared just after this.

Inishmaan (I think)

Coming into Inishmore

Inishmore

Cute decrepit old cottage

Me looking pleased with life... To be fair, my bike was crap - the gears kept seizing up.

Kilmurvey Beach

Traditional currach.

Dun Eoghanachta. Hardly any people here.

The walls of Dun Eoghanachta.

A random bathtub. Weird things was, it was all hooked up to plumbing.

Seven churches (none of them had roofs).

AJ left me behind and headed to the NW tip of the island. This is the view from there. 

A different view of Kilmurvey Beach.

Our ferry "Happy Hooker". Used to be a fishing boat.

Harbour master at Doolin was doing donuts on his jetski.