On Saturday I ventured to the largest of the Aran Islands, Inis Mor (14km by 4km, or 9 miles by 2.5 miles). The ferry headed out in misty rain but thankfully by the time we got to Inis Mor it was sunny and it stayed that way all day. My second tshirt day this trip.
Famous for the jumper/sweater design that originated on these islands (if you've seen my Dad in a hand knitted jumper, it's that design). There are even tourist shops in central Dublin dedicated selling them, though mostly machine made ones. The hand knitted jumpers are at least €300 (A$450) whilst the machine made version is €100.
I expected to see lots of sheep and fishermen on the island, as the jumpers were traditionally knitted by the fishermen to wear on their boats. I saw no sheep and only a couple of fishing boats but there were so many stone fences, apparently 10,000 miles of them. The whole island was so rocky, making it look greyer in photos than it was in real life. The little paddocks that were created using the stones centuries ago are no longer suitable for sheep farming. Though I did finally manage to find some knitting wool, that was supposedly processed on one of the islands and contained a tiny bit of Aran Islands wool.
Sheep farming is especially not popular when there is much more money to be made from the thousands of tourists who visit each day in the summer. Many of whom get on a bicycle for the first time in years and attempt to ride around the island, I felt so sorry for my hop on, hop off mini bus driver who had so many near misses, as they went on the wrong side of the road. It is a very unique island and my photos don't do it justice.
On the return trip to the mainland I had added on a cruise to the second most popular tourist attraction in Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher aka The Cliffs of Insanity, if you're a Princess Bride fan. They were pretty impressive but I think Tasmania has more spectacular cliffs.
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