Ireland - Inis Oirr (An Aran Island)

Inis Oirr (pronounced In-iss-sheer) is the smallest of the Aran Islands. Inishmore (Inis Mor) is the largest and most popular, and Inishmaan is not really inhabitated/ nothing to see there. We had to go to Inis Oirr, because there were no ferries leaving Inis Mor, the day we went (we could get there, but would have to stay overnight and leave the next day). 

We took a big ferry, and dolphins were breeching and racing us! 

Very windy and chilly out on the water!

Inis Oirr - about 320 live on this island. Our jaunting car tour guide's family has lived on this island for 9 generations.

Jaunting car ride time!!

This island is "Ghaeltacht", which means the primary language spoken is Gaelic. It is a "dying" language, as not enough people are being taught the language/speak the language to have it survive. Our driver was Gaelic speaking and his English was a tad hard to understand at times. 

Island potatoes growing.

So many rocks! They dry stacked them upright and with gaps to help the wind whip through them. 

In 1960 the Plassey was shipwrecked off the coast from hitting a large rock in a bad storm. The men of Inis Oirr rescued everyone aboard the merchant ship (11 men), and a few weeks later the ship was washed ashore on to Inis Oirr by the current, where it still sits.

Nobody said I couldn't, so I took a small stone from the beach surrounding the shipwreck

There is a lighthouse waaaay down the beach you can barely see the black dot above the coast line. 

This is called Cnoc Raithni a burial grounds dating from 1500BC. Human remains and ancient tools were found. Mind blown. 

The castle ruins were, no surprise, on the top of another mountain 😆Walking up steep "hills" (mountains) are just a normal thing here. It's not considered an active thing, just a normal thing. 

From all the Gaelic I know from Duolingo, I know that "Go raibh maith agat" means thank you. I can imagine the words under the no smoking symbol mean no smoking 😂

I'm sad to see any ancient language disappear, which this one seems like it will in my lifetime even.

This was the O'Brien castle on Inis Oirr. Fun fact, when I was a kid, I always thought my "famous last name" would be O'Brien. I really liked the sound of Shaughnessy O'Brien. Funny enough I never was famous and no need of a pseudonym, and then I married a Brian, so now it would just be weird. My "famous name" would now probably be my original last name. A full circle moment. 😂

GUYS!!! Look at this island!!!

The rock walls were just there as a place to clear the rocks so they'd have some actual ground to work with. I can imagine someone spent their entire lifetime just stacking rocks to build walls. There were so so many (not just on this island, but everywhere in Ireland).

This water was COLD. As we were waiting for our ferry, a whole slew of kids arrived for their swimming lessons and wow. These people are hearty, to say the least. What I might only consider on a dare as a polar bear plunge for 10 seconds, they call a normal day at the beach 😎

When we were in the pub, there was a mom/playdate happening next to us. Moms drinking beer, toddlers roaming about, nursing infants - it was interesting because I think the last place (in Canada/America) anyone would ever suggest a meetup is a bar for drinks at 1pm with kids present, LOL. Momma's just chatting away over a pint.

We also ducked into a restaurant on the island to escape a massive downpour - we ordered wings and salad, and enjoyed not getting drenched.

We stopped into a pub on the island, and it had lots of pictures of the Plassey rescue that made news in 1960. It also had a news article about the pubs on Inis Oirr - apparently they weren't abiding by the laws and closing down at night - so men would come to the island, and then just keep staying and not going home. The women/wives on the mainland had many complaints about this, and an "undercover" young constable, dressed as a tourist went over, checked it out - yes, indeed, they were operating round the clock - went to the beach, changed into his police uniform, came back and arrested everyone. Go home boys! 

It was a windy island, my nose and ears were cold all day - so I bought this wool hat on Inis Oirr, because the ferry ride back I knew would be even colder than before, and we'd be on it for a long time, because we were about to go see the Cliffs of Moher.

Way off over there in the distance is the Cliffs of Moher, our next stop!

When you arrive to any Gaelic speaking area, they let you know

Apologies in some of these videos I say Inis Or, because I learned the correct pronunciation (Inissheer) sometime during that day, but didn't know it when we first arrived.

This video is of no particular thing, other than to hear our guide speaking Gaelic. As we came back to the jaunting car from the Plassey (we walked out to it), he was eating his lunch and visiting with a friend. They speak Gaelic, and when he saw us he apologized for speaking in Gaelic, to which we didn't mind one bit! And then he quickly finished up his convo with his friend, the last of which I caught here. Love it!