A twenty minute ride on a ferry was all it took to travel back in time 100 years.
Echoing the Ireland of long ago, the Aran Islands (Oileáin Árann) seemed undisturbed by the passage of time – its streets still lined in rocks where island locals proudly preserve the Gaelic language, while only recently having welcomed modern technological advances like Internet and electricity.
Surrounded by calm, blue waters, the Aran Islands consist of three pieces of land: Inis Oírr, Inis Meáin and Árainn, the largest of the three and bearer of our journey.
We boarded the ferry by 10:30 a.m. and set out upon welcoming waters; land clearly visible in the distance.
“I thought the water was beautiful,” Elaine He said. ”I was blown away by the scenery and how sunny it was for the first time during our trip.”
Minutes later, we began a minibus tour through a narrow street, led by the enthusiastic local driver, Daniel O’Flaherty.
If O’Flaherty was to sum up the Aran Islands with one word, it would be rocks.
“Everything in that day was built with rocks,” he said. “Rock, rock and more rock.”
And he was right.
Even from afar we could see the walls of piled rocks that line the countryside. O’Flaherty said that years ago, during the famine– referred to by locals as the great hunger – Irish workers earned a penny per day in exchange for their labor, which consisted of building walls of rock throughout the islands. The walls still stand and although they look minute in the distance, these property defining walls are tall enough to prevent cattle and horses from roaming into other properties. Beyond serving their purpose, they offer a sense of rawness, history and innocence to the islands.
Although Árainn is said to be the most developed of the three islands, its connection to the past is undeniable.
We arrived at the Na Seacht d’Teampaill, where many locals are buried. O’Flaherty explained the relevance of the number seven in the island during the seventh and eighth centuries, referring to the seven Romans who built seven temples and schools. This graveyard revealed the island’s religious inclination, as the words on most tombstones mentioned God. The most modest graves were those of the seven Romans who paved the island’s history.
The group then embarked on an uphill climb to the Dún Aonghusa, the pre-historic stone fort that stands 100 meters above the sea.
Elaine He said it reminded her of a trip to Chile, where she visited similar monuments 4,600 meters above sea level.
“What we saw today left that kind of impression,” she said. “It made me feel so small.”
Jamie McGee agreed. “You could look down and see such a special view.”
The trip concluded with a conversation with Connla O’ Dúláine, a priest who joined the Árainn Catholic Church in 1974. He spoke of how the island has managed to preserve the traditional Irish culture and language, despite growing tourism and technology.
“Our liturgy is all in Irish and that helps the islanders to conserve their Gaelic,” he said, “Services are offered almost everyday and Sunday masses usually have over 200 parishioners.”
But he still says islanders are not as religious as they used to be 40 years ago, because people don’t have as much time. Equally, he noted an increase in young worshippers, which he calls the teenage phenomenon.
“They fall out at around age 17 when they leave to school,” he said. “But I see them return to church no later than age 30. It’s almost like they’re going off, getting educated, but eager to return home. Because of this, I imagine mass is pretty important to them.”
And after bidding farewell to the priest, we returned to the hotel anticipating a calm night in Galway. But many wondered…
”Where were the Leprechauns?”
by Liz Bello
