Aran-rific!

One of the highlights of the Irish Life Experience is a trip to the Aran Islands. The Aran Islands are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay. From west to east they are: Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer and Irish is the main spoken language on all three islands. On Monday, we set sail from Rossaveal for a fun filled day of biking around the island of Inishmore-the largest of the three islands. We arrived around 10:30 AM and rented bikes for all of the students. From there, everyone was able to enjoy their packed lunches and explore the island on their own-all by nine miles in length and two miles in width. It rained for the first hour we were on the island, but once again the skies opened up and the sun once shone down upon the Irish Life Experience. The islands' geology is mainly karst limestone and is thus closely related to the Burren. Huge boulders up to 80 feet above the sea at parts of the west facing cliffs have been shown not to be glacial erratics as originally believed, but rather as an extreme form of storm beach, cast there by giant waves that occur on average once per century. A lacework of ancient stone walls enfolds all three islands to contain local livestock. Also found are early clocháns-dry-stone beehive huts from the early-Christian period. Enda of Aran founded the first true Irish Monastery near Killeany. In time there were a dozen monasteries on Inishmore alone. Many Irish saints had some connection with Aran. St. Brendan was blessed for his voyage there, Jarlath of Tuam, Finnian of Clonard, and St. Columba called it the "Sun of the West." Since the islands were first populated in larger numbers, probably at the time of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in the mid 17th century, when the Catholic population of Ireland had the choice of going "to hell or to Connaght," many fled to the numerous islands off the west coast of Ireland. There they adapted themselves to the raw climatic conditions, developing a survival system of total self-sufficiency. Their methods included mixing layers of sand and seaweed on top of rocks to create fertile soil, a technique used to grow potatoes and other vegetables. The same seaweed method also provided grazing grass within stone-wall enclosures for cattle and sheep, which in turn provided wool and yarn to make handwoven trousers, skirts and jackets, hand-knitted sweaters, shawls, caps, and hide shoes. The islanders also constructed unique boats for fishing, building their thatched cottages from the materials available or trading with the mainland. Many Irish Life Experience students went to Dún Aonghasa. Dún Aonghasa is the most famous of several prehistoric forts on the Aran Islands. It is located on the top of a 250 foot cliff and is an important archaeological site that also offers a spectacular view. It is not known when Dún Aonghasa was built, though it is now thought to date from the Iron Age. It was probably originally constructed as a circular ringfort several hundred feet from the coast, its present precarious position being the result of centuries of coastal erosion. The fort consists of a series of four concentric walls of dry stone construction. Surviving stonework is twelve feet wide at some points. The original shape was presumably oval or D-shaped but parts of the cliff and fort have since collapsed into the sea. Outside the third ring of walls lie a defensive system of stone slabs, known as a ‘Chevaux de frise,' planted in an upright position in the ground and still largely well-preserved. These ruins also feature a huge rectangular stone slab, the function of which is unknown. Impressively large among prehistoric ruins, the outermost wall of Dún Aonghasa encloses an area of approximately 14 acres. Although clearly defensible, the particular location of Dún Aonghasa suggests that its primary purpose was religious and ceremonial rather than military. It may have been used for seasonal rites by the druids, perhaps involving the bonfires that could be seen from the mainland of Ireland. Students soaked up the gorgeous views and cautiously laid close to the edge of the cliffs, inhaling the fresh Irish sea air. Joe said it was more impressive and untouched than the Cliffs of Moher and Sydney said it was one of her favorite days of the whole program. On the three mile journey back to the village of Inishmore, students stopped at a beautiful beach to go swimming and collect shells, looked through a telescope at the seal colony vantage point, took pictures of donkeys and horses, picked flowers, and fixed chains on their bikes. Eventually, everyone returned to the port, where they enjoyed banana and Nutella crepes as a treat. Rough waters provided a fun trip back to the mainland, but students were able to get a bird's eye view from sitting on top of the Aran ferry. We arrived back to Gort na Coiribe, exhausted after an incredible experience and a few rosy cheeks. It was simply a spectacular day!

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