Wandering Rocks: A Spar on Inishmore

I arrived in Galway, and took the ferry over to the Aran Islands. It was on the islands that Synge found inspiration for his dramatic works, most notably The Playboy of the Western World. Synge's trip to the Islands was encouraged by Yeats, who famously said, "Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression." At the time, Yeats and many of his contemporaries shared a romantic vision of the islands as a place where one could find 'authentic Irishness,' where an isolated Irish-speaking rural society still held traces of a pre-Christian, Pagan, ancient Celtic culture.

The notion that there are traces of an ancient culture on the Aran Islands exists to this day, and is the basis for the tremendous amount of tourism on the Islands. In the Aran Bike Tours pamphlet that was handed to me on the dock, it reads:

"The population of the island is about 800. The islanders use the language of Irish every day, the island being one of the last places in Ireland where the ancient Celtic language is preserved."

This was really interesting to me-- coming from a week in Donegal where a thriving Gaeltacht community is using Irish as an everyday language in the contemporary world--to see the Islands marketed in this way. Yes, there are some fantastic ruins from the ancient Aran Island culture, and yes Irish is spoken, but the traditional way of life has quickly been lost and replaced by the tourism industry. The odds of finding an old fisherman who only speaks Irish? Slim to none. Which is kind of ironic, because that's what people come to see-- the 'authentic,' traditional culture and way of life.

Instead, there's a Spar- Ireland's most popular supermarket chain- on Inishmore. But don't worry, you can get in touch with traditional Aran culture-- you can buy an authentic Aran sweater at the Aran Sweater market, and it even comes with a certificate of authenticity.

All cynicism aside, the Islands truly have some amazing sites. Additionally, McDonagh, riffing on Synge, wrote his Aran Islands trilogy, which includes The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Cripple of Inishmaan, so seeing everything the Islands had to offer (natural, ancient, and commercial) was an incredibly valuable part of my research.

The boardwalk on Inishmore.

I rented a bike on Inishmore, so that I could travel around and see the whole island. A paved road cut through fields that were divided up by rock walls, demarcating who owned the land.

I stopped to see these horses, and they were very friendly and came right up to me. Even the horses are friendly in Ireland!

All this field needs is Mel Gibson in facepaint, riding his horse into battle, with bagpipes playing in the background...

I stopped off at Dun Aonghasa (pronounced 'dune angus'), coveted as 'the most spectacular semi Circular Celtic Stone fort in Europe. Dun Aonghasa is believed to have been built in the Iron Age, and offered some fantastic views of the island.

The cliffs from the top of Dun Aonghasa.

Me at the cliffs, perhaps a little sweaty/tired from my bike ride.

At Dun Aonghasa, I met some guys around my age who work there and live on Inishmore. They invited me to their friend Bartley's birthday barbeque. The party was at Bartley's family's house, which is one of the few traditional cottages that still exists on the island today (and by few I mean like, one of three). We had a lot of fun, and when it started raining (of course) we went down to the pub to listen to some music.