Honeymoon In Ireland - Aran Islands

An updated version of this site can be found here

4 July, 2008

The flight to Inis Mhór/Inishmore was exciting!  (As I expected it might be)  I booked the €80 flight and B&B package through Aer Arann.  When I did, I was told to be at the airport at 9:30 AM, and that we would return the next day at 10:15 AM.  When we arrived at the airport, they informed us that our flight would return at 3:15 the next afternoon (which was only an issue because we were already booked in somewhere for the evening) .  So,they said that they would try to get us on a morning flight.  We accepted this and got on our plane, but not until after having our bags and ourselves weighed!  We then were placed in the plane which had eight seats (including the pilot).  It was fantastic!

The seat over the wing seems to be the one where the heaviest people go, and also had no window.  We, luckily, had spectacular views out of our windows.  The water looked like the Caribbean and the scenery was possibly more beautiful from the air.

Upon landing, a bus took us to our B&B for €10 return trip even though it was 10:30 AM.  We dropped our bags off and headed to rent some bikes.  It was a wonderful day for it (16° C).  We went to Burke Bicycle Hire (under Supermacs).  The bikes were €10 for the day.  After renting the bikes, we went to the Tourist Office to get an Ordinance Survey map (€7), and started out.  The girl at the Tourist Office was so helpful that I couldn't believe it.  We set out down the Coast Road on the bike guy's recommendation and it was wonderful.  If you don't know Irish, you should familiarize yourself with the Irish version of places you don't want to miss as some signs are only in Irish.  The Aran Islands are the place in Ireland where Irish is most used.

The day was beautiful as we cycled along the flat coast road.  On our way we passed stone walled field on our left and the ocean on our right.  We passed Mainistir Chiaráin, the remains of a medieval monastery.  It was St. Kieran's first monastery, and the site where he would receive the vision that led him to found Clanmacnoise.  We also passed some rocks known as the seal colony, but the seals weren't out sunning.  We did have a SNAFU when Sarah's chain came off (next to the lovely Kilmurvey Beach), but she fixed it and we proceeded to Dún Aonghasa.

This is the most impressive of all of Ireland's prehistoric Stone Forts and one of four similar forts on Inishmore.  Admission is normally €3, but we used our Heritage Pass (our pass has paid for itself already -- any other Heritage site we see is essentially free).  Even though I'd been to Ireland nine times before, I'd never gotten to see this fort.  It was at the top of my "To See" list.  . The fort itself is impressive and the tea shop served really good sandwiches.  The march from the Visitor Center to the fort is long though, and pretty rough.  At the end of the climb though, we were rewarded  with the stunning cliff views that the Cliffs of Moher were missing--- amazing, scary drops straight to the ocean.

Stone pikes in ground surrounding walls of Dun Aengus

More obstacles to slow an attack

We went further up the coast and stopped at the Clochán na Carraige.  This one was totally in tact.  After negotiating the cows that were guarding the path (thanks to some other visitors) we were rewarded by being able to climb in and see what it was like.  It is considered to be one of the best preserved cloghans in the world and possibly was built as part of the Seven Churches complex (see below)  As we pulled away, MY chain came off!

Clochán na Carraige

Across the road from Clochán na Carraige is most untempting Hostel of all time

The fields alongside the road

Decoration on standing stone

 We looked at the other  monuments from a distance until we reached Na Seacht dTimpeall (The Seven Churches).  The Seven Churches is actually a monastic ruin dating to about 800.  As a former pilgrimage site, it might have once had seven churches, but only two are still standing.  The only known pilgrim's hostels from the Middle Ages are among the building located here.  Many of the many buildings and grave stones are intricately decorated.  Even with a large group there, this place had a special feeling.  All the way at the end of the road was a nice view of the coast.

The Small Chapel

One of the smaller buildings

This video gives a good idea of the site.  But I didn't film it.

At this point, we turned back.  Our butt's were pretty sore and we'd been biking around for a few hours.  We started back home only to realize that most of the coast road was uphill going home.  Then it started to rain.  It actually wasn't too hard and felt pretty nice.  We dropped off the bikes a little before 4 PM and walked back to our B&B, Claí Bán.

The Hawaii of Ireland

Claí Bán is really nice and well located.  We rested for two hours, and I called Aer Arann and we got on the 9:15 AM flight.  We then headed out in the rain to the American Bar.  We had two delicious burgers with a big pile of chips (french fries) and two drinks for about €20.  On the way home we stopped at the giant Spar and got drenched walking home.  It was really wonderful day all around.

Our room at Claí Bán

Day 6 Ireland Itinerary

Spiddal to Connemara Airport (10 minutes)
Inishmore, Aran Islands (total time from entering Connemara Airport to our B&B 1 Hour)

Honeymoon In Ireland - The Dingle Peninsula

An updated version of this site can be found here

1 July, 2008

Sheila's breakfast wasn't great.   It was greasier than most and the meat didn't seem to be very expensive.  On the whole, not a bad place to stay though.  From The Black Valley we headed to Dingle (An Daingean in Irish).

SIDE NOTE: Dingle Town is the beginning of the Gaeltacht (an area where Irish is the primary language).  Road signs in these areas only give the name of towns in Irish.  It's no big deal, but you need to make sure that your map has the Irish version of town names.

Once in town, we stopped by the pier and used the public restrooms before heading into the Tourist Office.  The Tourist Office had great maps that had all of the town names in Irish (which is what I would hope they have in the Gaeltacht).  They even gave us directions to our B&B (Coill an Róis).

From Dingle, we headed on the Slea Head loop.  Our first stop was Dúnbeg.  It's a nice promantory fort, but I thought that the Staigue Fort was more impressive.  The fort was built during the Bronze Age making it one of the oldest forts of this type in existence.  Admission was €2 per person.  Across the road is an Audio-Visual that we skipped, but they let us use the restroom.

The entrance to the fort

Inside the fort

Exiting the fort

View from Dunbeg Fort

Another view from Dunbeg

After that we saw the Beehive houses (Cloghans).  The stone huts were built with corbelled roofs, making them able to protect against the wind and rain.  You are able to go in and out of all of the huts on the complex on your own.  Again there was a car park,  €2 admission and a REALLY clean single person restroom.

One of the Cloghans

The sign on the inside of the restroom.  The BEST sign I have ever seen!

We finished the Slea Head Loop,  seeing some absolutely fantastic scenery.  The loop left us back in Dingle and we proceeded to our B&B (it was 3:45 PM).  Jimmy (the owner), greeted us and started a DVD about Dingle, but we ended up just chatting and drinking tea for about an hour.  Then we set off with his maps in tow.

The view of the Blasket Islands from the Slea Head Loop

 First, we went to the Gallarus Oratory - another Heritage site - woo hoo! (This one has free admission, but only for the Gallarus - there is a private visitor center that charges a fee)    Built as a church for the locals around 700 AD without mortar, it was cool to see how it keeps out the rain and wind still today!  A couple of hours earlier the wind was so strong that it was blowing through our car (that's right -- the wing was howling THROUGH our closed windows!).  Inside here though, just a slight breeze.

The Gallarus Oratory

View through the Oratory

Priest's house at Kilmalkedar

 Next up - Kilmalkedar.  This place was really special.  We started at a ruined building to the left of the church, across the lane.  After seeing so many buildings with guides, it was fun to try and piece together the clues to deduce what the building might have been used for. (We guessed it was for the priest and we were right!)  St. Brendan's Holy Well is next to the priest's house, but it is locked up by the owner.  A real shame, maybe one day he will open it.  When we finished here, we entered the churchyard.

I'm glad that we went through the front instead of the side gate (through the modern graves).  As we walked up the front walk, a statue of the Virgin Mary with a red rose in her hand and a rosary wrapped around her hands stood looking out over the graves.  Just over her shoulder to the left was a grave marker labeled in ancient Ogham script.  After entering the door to the church we saw many features that are considered to be unique - the sign said that they were copied from Cormac's Chapel at the Rock of Cashel.  We recognized this and most definitely should have won something!  I also noticed that the hiking trail was labeled differently.  It had what looked like a medieval pilgrim and a Crusader's cross.  I figured it must be some sort of St. Brendan pilgrimage site.  I found out later that just up the hill from the church is where he used to meditate, and is the site where he had his vision that led to his explorations.  And the pilgrimage happens on the last Saturday in June (3 days ago)!

The Ogham Stone

The graveyard

Notice no mistakes in Irish, but something happened with the English =)

We were hungry and went into Dingle Town to eat.  We ended up eating at The Old Smokehouse on Main Street.  €25 for two entrees, 2 glasses of wine and a cup of coffee.  The food was mediocre, but the service was good.  After we finished eating, we made a brief stop in The Internet Cafe on Main Street.


We got back to Coill an Rois about 9:15 and I was exhausted so I went straight to bed.

Day 4 Ireland Itinerary

Black Valley, Ring of Kerry
Dingle Town (just under 2 hours)
Coill an Róis (about 15 minutes out of Dingle Town)