Thoughts on Aran Island and Cliffs of Moher

In the middle of the west Ireland adventure we went to the Aran Islands. These are three charming little islands to the west of Galway.

-We took a ferry to the closest island because the ferry guys said it was the only one really open this early in the season. We got there and started walking around and there sure wasn't much to do. Thankfully it was a fantastic day and we were able to just walk around.

-We visited the same little pub 3 times during the journey and had some lunch and Guinesses there. Cute place.

-The really awesome thing about this little island was the rows upon rows of hand-built stone walls. Here is just an example, but they were everywhere. We were having quite the conversations as to why these walls were built, and while we settled on the keeping of animals and such, it was still amazing to see. The amount of stones this place had was crazy and some people spent the better part of their lives extracting these stones and piling them up.

- Apparently this is one of the few places where they speak Gaelic still to each other. I only heard it once, when the man who worked in the pub answered the phone and was speaking with a friend, but it was pretty cool to hear.

Moving onto the Cliffs of Moher:

- You now have to pay 8 euro just to park to see these natural wonders. Doesn't seem fair really that to see something so beautiful you need to pay, but I suppose that is how the world works.

- We went on the path to the left of the Private Property sign. According to my friends that live in Ireland, this is the path that all the non-tourists use when they want to see the cliffs. We had a nice dirt path instead of the paved one, but we also left the bus tour groups in the dust. Nice.

-There really are no words for how majestic these cliffs are. Simply stunning and even better with brilliant blue skies and soft warm winds. Awe-inspiring.