Emerald Isle, Day Two
We took a ferry over to Inish Oirr, the easternmost island of the Aran Islands. Population about 297.
It was easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
Solitude.
Quiet.
Peace.
The ferry dropped us off at the harbor and we set off walking, heading towards the castle we could see up on a hill in the distance.
We weren't too worried about getting lost. It's a small island.
It was a spectacular day - sunny with a few wispy clouds floating by and very moderate temperatures.
In the eleven days we were in Ireland we only saw two bits of rain. The first was the very morning we landed and we found evidence of wet roads as we drove out of the airport. No rain, just wet roads. The last bit was the day we left. It barely sprinkled for a few minutes as we were driving to the airport. Our host and hostess commented on how fortunate we were to have such a stretch of sunny, gorgeous weather. They told us they couldn't remember the last time they had such a great stretch of weather that time of year.
I almost feel like we didn't really experience true Irish weather. But I'm okay with that. It will give us an excuse to go back.
Ha.
Since we were there in early fall, you can see some of the grass was already looking a wee bit, well, dead.
There was plenty of green on the main island but this island was more gold.
Until this photo. Now you can see some green.
That castle is where we were headed.
And between us and the castle were about 10,000 stone walls. I'm not exaggerating. This is some seriously rocky land, folks.
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We were almost to the top of the hill, working our way up and up and up, going past the sweetest cottages and most breathtaking views, when we came upon a cottage that had a sign outside the stone wall around their lot. It indicated that it was a bed and breakfast that served lunch to everyone. There were some picnic tables set up in the yard with a few people sitting at each one.
We went inside where we found a couple putting some food together in the kitchen. We inquired about eating lunch and the wife said, yes, we could do that but they didn't have a table available at the moment. We were willing to wait but she said no, her husband would be happy to bring another table outside if our husbands could help him.
Not a huge problem.
But before the guys could do that, a family got up and left their table.
Problem solved.
We sat and enjoyed a tasty lunch on the hill under the castle. We were in no rush and just sat in the sun, looking out over the ocean in the distance and watching other tourists walk by as they headed up to the castle.
When we were finished, we went inside to pay and she had a big bowl of candy for the taking. We all tried one and T and I fell in love with the caramels. Asking our hostess where we could find these treats, she named the market to look for and then brought out a plastic bag and gave us several handfuls to take with us.
A very kind and generous woman. And our new best friend after plying us with caramels. She's lucky we left.
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