After a few days of working while Mike was touring around the Netherlands, we flew back to Dublin on Wednesday. Upon arrival we hopped a bus to the Dublin Heuston train station, then took a train to Galway. After an easy 2 hour train ride, we arrived in Galway and walked to the hostel where we were meeting the rest of the crew. We met up with them, caught up on the craziness we had missed while back in the Netherlands, then went out for dinner and drinks in Galway.
Brothers reunited and enjoying a Guinness
Galway was a cool little town with a lively music scene. Walking along the pedestrian only downtown, we saw a few musicians playing outside. We also went into a really nice looking pub and heard some really good music from the live band playing there. We ended up calling it a relatively early night, due to our early morning departure for the Aran Islands the next morning.
Our Ferry over to the Aran Islands
We had a 9am ferry for the Aran Islands from a town about 30 minutes outside of Galway. Luckily we managed to get everyone up and made it to the ferry dock on time. Our destination was Inishmore - the largest of the three Aran Islands. We arrived after about an hour of enjoying the open ocean swells, and immediately set out to rent bikes for the day. Everyone got a bike and we started off exploring the island. We first found a surfing break named “Haggerty’s Left” - the locals told us that groups of 15-20 surfers come over to the island when the waves are really good.
Haggerty’s Left: About shoulder high and reeling
Next, we began our trek to the main attraction on Inishmore - Dun Aengus. This place is an ancient stone fort first built about 3000 years ago. It sits perched above the vertical cliffs that fall hundreds of feet down into the crashing waves of the Atlantic. While I wasn’t too impressed by the actual structure, the view of the island on one side and the never-ending Atlantic Ocean on the other gave you this spiritual feeling that was incredible. We took lots of pictures and spent a while pondering what it was like in 1000 BC when the first people built this fort.
Dun Aengus on Inishmore, Aran Islands
Bill - pondering life while perched hundreds of feet above the Atlantic
Brett and Landon jumping off the huge cliffs (they lived)
On our way to and from Dun Aengus we enjoyed biking around and viewing the scenery. Mike even met an Inishmore local that’s lived on the island his whole life. We climbed hills, gained incredible speeds on the way down, viewed the local goats, cows, and sheep that lived on the island. Inishmore even has a pretty nice beach that faces the mainland Irish coastline. We finished up the day with a pint of Guinness at the local pub. Good times on the Aran Islands.
Mike chatting with his Inishmore friend
Maze of dry-stone constructed walls on Inishmore
Mike, finishing the day up with a Guinness
That night we regrouped back at our hostel and ran into a couple of local Irish women. A little hesitant at first, we were pleasantly suprised at their wit after they joined us and proceeded to roast every one of us. These ladies had come over from Dublin and were heading to some television show cult following the next day on Inishmore - guess we had gone there a day early. They ended up bringing us out with them to a club that night, which was a blast. Unfortunately, later that night, a few of us had our jackets stolen from the local park. It wouldn’t have been a huge deal, but my passport was in my jacket, so I knew I needed to get back to Dublin as soon as possible.
Ireland, Travel, Winter
