The Aran Islands

Nine miles off of the coast of Spiddeal lies three small islands known as the Aran Islands. There is only one word that approaches an appropriate definition of them - Legendary. Three small isles make up the Aran Islands : Inis Mor, Inis Meain, and Inis Oirr. This is one of the only places in Ireland where the original Celtic language is still the primary language of the 800 inhabitants.
The ferry brought us to Inis Mor which is the largest of the three islands at 9 miles long and 2 miles wide. After stopping for a delicious fresh fish, we made our way out of Kilronan (the main city of Inis Mor) to Dun Arann Lighthouse and Signal Tower.

 This ancient fort is placed at the highest point in the islands and the view is spectacular overlooking Kilronan on one side, the Galway coast on another, and the Aran countryside on a third. Continuing on from the fort we headed to the oldest Celtic fort in all of Ireland Dun Aonghasa dating back to 2000B.C. The cliffs on the edge were spectacular and again the view was phenomenal.

After that we took off on our bikes once more to find the Aran Seal Colony but to our dismay the tide was much too high for the seals to be comfortably sunbathing. We biked through Kilronan to a pub on the outskirts and after a refreshing pint of Smithwicks we took off toward Teampall Bheanain (Church of Saint Benan.) The church is reputed to be the smallest in the world with dimensions of 3.7m x 1.8m. On approach it's silhouette marked the edge of the hillside. The road ended 2km from the church at the base of the steep rocky hill next to a goat pen - funny side story: the locals offered me a free goat because they had too many after I jovially played with their dog for about fifteen minutes.

We returned to Kilronan and visited the Aran Sweater Market and Museum to purchase one of the renowned hand knit beautiful sweaters.