Today’s Itinerary: Aran islands- Inishmore- Tully Cross
There are three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay as it enters the North Atlantic. Collectively they are called the Aran Islands. We will be visiting Inishmore, the largest of the islands, and the first island to the west of the mainland. You will experience the pure Irish culture on this island. The culture here has not changed for centuries. The inhabitants of these three islands reflect the qualities of being Irish: ruggedness, Catholic, loyal to family and culture, and the joys of living a simple life. Life on these islands is very difficult due to the brutal nature of the North Atlantic.
Small village on the island complete with the typical Irish stone walls.
Remains of a centuries-old church.
Another island village. Note the Celtic cross in the foreground. These Celtic crosses are found all over Ireland.
The Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. It belongs to a kind of crosses with a nimbus. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated.[3] With the Celtic Revival the shape, usually decorated with interlace and other motifs from Insular art, became popular for funerary monuments and other uses, and has remained so, spreading well beyond Ireland
A close-up view of a stone fence and the typical narrow paths or lanes crossing the fields.
Aerial view of one of the islands.
Try navigating that road in an automobile.
Since Inzishmore is an extension of the Burren, you can see the expansive amount of limestone rock in the background.
The Aran Islands (Irish: Oileáin Árann—pronunciation: [ˈɪlɑːn ˈɑːrənʲ]) or The Arans (na hÁrainneacha—[nə ˈhɑːrənʲəxə]) are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. They constitute thebarony of Aran in County Galway, Ireland.
From west to east the islands are: Inishmore (Árainn Mhór/Inis Mór[1]—[ˈɑːrənʲ woːr] or [ˈiniʃ moːr]), the largest; Inishmaan (Inis Meáin/Inis Meadhóin—[ˈɪnɪɕ mʲɑːn]), the second-largest; and Inisheer (Inis Thiar/Inis Oírr/Inis Oirthir—[ˈiniʃ hiər / iːrʲ / erʲhirʲ]), the smallest. The 1,200 inhabitants primarily speak Gaelic, the language used in local placenames. Most islanders are also fluent in English.
Inishmor (Irish: Árainn Mhór or Inis Mór) is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay in Ireland and has an area of 31 square kilometres (12 sq mi). Inishmor has a population of about 840, making it the largest of the Aran Islands in terms of population. The island is famous for its strong Irish culture, loyalty to the Irish language, and a wealth of Pre-Christian and Christian ancient sites including Dún Aengus, described as “the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe” by George Petrie.[1]
The island is an extension of The Burren. The terrain of the island is composed of limestone pavements with crisscrossing cracks known as “grikes”, leaving isolated rocks called “clints”. The limestones date from the Visean period (Lower Carboniferous), formed as sediments in a tropical sea approximately 350 million years ago, and compressed into horizontal strata with fossil corals, crinoids, sea urchins and ammonites. Glaciation following the Namurianphase facilitated greater denudation. The result is that Inishmor and the other islands are among the finest examples of Glacio-Karst landscape in the world. The effects of the last glacial period (the Midlandian) are most in evidence, with the island overrun by ice during this glaciation. The impact of earlier Karstification (solutional erosion) has been eliminated by the last glacial period. So any Karstification now seen dates from approximately 10,000 years ago and the island Karst is thus recent.
Solutional processes have widened and deepened the grikes of the limestone pavement. Pre-existing lines of weakness in the rock (vertical joints) contribute to the formation of extensive fissures separated by clints (flat pavement like slabs). The rock karstification facilitates the formation of sub-terrainean drainage.
Climate and agriculture
The island has an unusually temperate climate. Average air temperatures range from 15 °C in July to 6 °C in January. The soil temperature does not usually drop below 6 °C, although the end of 2010 recorded a prolonged period of snow, the first in living memory. Since grass will grow once the temperature rises above 6 °C, this means that the island (like the neighbouring Burren) has one of the longest growing seasons in Ireland or Britain, and supports a diverse and rich plant life. Late May is the sunniest time,[2] and also likely the best time to view flowers, with the gentians and avens peaking but orchid species blooming late.
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