Aran Island Sunburn

The June bank holiday sort of snuck up on us and I did not have anything planned, but I have always wanted to head to the Aran Islands. I checked the forecast and it was to be sunny all week, yes you read right, sunny! Thursday I booked a hostel, booked the train and the ferry for a whirlwind trip out West. What I did not realise was that the Ocean Races were going on in Galway which is why the entire town was packed. We took the early train down and I am glad that we got on at the first stop, because by the time we reached Galway the train was packed. I just love it that our names appear over our seats so there is a good way of knowing if the seats are reserved or not. The streets were jammed packed since it was actually hot! We walked along the quays and down along the beach. We saw a yellow tent and I had Ben head that way. Sure enough it was a circus! We grabbed the coupons and planned on coming back later that night.

The street performers were out in full and we were constantly entertained. Galway is such a lively city and it was good to be back and see it in good weather, the last time we were there it was lashing rain for Steve's honeymoon. We checked into our hostel which was part of a campus just outside of town. Nice little room in a dorm like setting that was cheap and clean. It was a great last minute find. After unloading our stuff we headed back for some dinner, ice cream and circus!

Now I did not have the highest expectations, but I was impressed. The tent could have fit maybe several hundred people, but only about 25 came. After the ringleaders introduction the clowns came out and wanted volunteers, three men and a woman. As can be expected in such a small crowd, no one volunteered so the picked people out of the crowd. The woman was one of the ticket collectors, two men were dads who kids wanted them to do it, and then the woman picked Ben. He was not happy but was a good sport about it. The volunteers were to make a movie. The director was a clown. The first man volunteer had to put on a tutu, leap across the stage and start the scene. At this point, Ben looked across the ring to me, crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, I knew he was not happy with me, but I was happy to snap away on his camera. The woman then was to sauter across the ring looking beautiful. The second man was then to go over and woo her and dip her in a hug. Things were looking up for Ben, no purple tutu wearing. Then Ben was to be the jilted lover. The 'director' would show each of them how to do it and then they would enact it. Then they put it all together. When Ben came to knock on the door and see the cheating lover, he fell to his knees in horror, slammed the flowers onto the ground and then pulled out a gun and shot them. Then the director ran over picked up the gun and then shot Ben which Ben had a great death scene, then shot the tutu man and then himself, thus ending the 'movie' . The ring erupted in its scattered applause and they all took a bow. Ben's theatrical debut was wonderful! Not that I am biased or anything, but he did give the best performance.

There was a juggler, mermaid contortionists, ribbon acrobats, horse trainers, women hanging from rings and clowns. What more could you want from a cirucs. They all did great, a few minor mistakes, but better then anything I could ever do. Oh how I love those contortionists. All in all, we had a good time and were entertained. We headed out through the insanity of town and had a nice quiet walk home.

Early the next morning we got up to collect the bus to the ferry. After a small mix up on my part, we eventually got on the correct bus going the 45 minutes out of town to the ferry port. An hour ferry ride later, we were on Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands. We hired bikes and headed out on our adventure. The sun was up and there was not a cloud in the sky. Now we did put on sunscreen, but we would find out later, we did not put on enough.

The first stop on our ride was Dún Aengus, one of the old ring forts that is built right on the edge of a shear cliff. Our twenty minute bike ride was great, but we did not anticipate the thirty minute hike up to the top. It was a wonderful view and it was so peaceful to listen to the surf thunderously crash into the base of the cliffs. We ate our snack and just enjoyed being in the sunshine. We hiked down, got back on the bikes, spoke some Irish to the locals and were off to our next stop. But what we did not realise that it us back up hill the whole way. We stopped for a breather midway up the hill and got to pet a very friendly horse that looked like Tír na nÓg from 'Into the West'. When we finally reached the top, we gladly coasted back down to the coast to ride along there to see one of the smallest churches in Europe. When we noticed that it would be a hike up to it, we settled for distance pictures and heading back into town for a bite to eat. The cemetary was right on the beach, that even the dead get a great view. We had a fabulous lunch and then fell asleep on the beach. I was just so happy that we had good weather, i did not want torrential rain like we did on our last Irish excursion up north.

We headed back to Galway on the ferry and caught the last bus back to Dublin to end our whirlwind tour of Galway and the Aran Islands. I am just so glad that we finally made it over there since my folks said how much they enjoyed their little trip over there. Now I only have more counties to see and one more island, Tori Island with the last of the Irish Kings!