If you visit the West Ireland you must go to the Aran Islands. They are like the source of the traditional Irish way of life. An excerpt form Irish history: the Catholics were made to flee from the Green Island in the XVII century and settled the Aran Islands. They learned to be self-sufficient, to breed cattle and sheep, to grow potatoes and construct boats. The Aran Islands of today struggle for their sense of identity. One the one hand their inhabitants still speak Irish in their everyday life and are a closed community where everybody knows each other (no wonder if there live only around 180 people on the most sparsely populated island;), but on the other hand they experience a great migration of the young generation off the island and they are highly dependent on tourism which makes them a kind of sell their “traditions”. David Monagan mentions himself Aran Island hand knitted sweaters made in China;) Well, that’s probably the way it has to be in our modern commercial world…
Anyway, I spent one beautiful, unforgettable day in early September on the largest of three islands, namely Inis Mór. A comfortable ferry from Rossaveal brought me and my boyfriend there. We decided to take our time and get to know the island by bike. There are no problems with renting a bike; actually you even don’t know where to go, because the choice is sooooo wide. Right from the beginning you are surrounded by commercial stuff, from Aran Island sweaters and small tour buses to Spar grocery and to my distaste McDonagh's! McDonagh's is like the Irish version of McDonald’s which is the last thing an ambitious and at least a little culture interested tourist would like to see in the centre of indigenous Irishness. Well, but the further and the deeper we went, the better it became. To travel around the island by bike is the best and only sensible idea to my mind. In this way we were able to see the mind-blowing wild coasts, contemplate the beauty of the ruins of the ancient seven churches, climb on a strange stone elevation from which we admired the lighthouse and nearby pastures, have a close look at the old thatched cottages and take a rest on a quiet sandy beach. Even modern-style show-off concrete islands and American tourists weren’t able to spoil that sunny day. I just hope that the Aran Islands will be able to save their identity…
http://www.aranislands.ie/
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