Inis Mor

The Aran Isles are three islands off the west coast of Ireland, known for fishing and tourism. Inis Mor is the largest of the three, and Earthling and I spent the night in Kilronan, which is the largest ... evidence of civilization is probably the best way to describe it. This was our B&B, which had absolutely scrumptious scrambled eggs and really comfy beds. Probably by best night's sleep during the entire stay in Ireland was here.

This is Guinness, who liked to greet all the guests at the B&B. Our best guess was that he was part Corgi and part something else.

Some views from the B&B:

...

After breakfast, Earthling and I took a walk along the coast of the island.

There was an artist hostel down this road.

We saw cows...

Some spectacular scenery...

Some quaint farmhouses stereotypical of what I think of when I think of rural British countryside...

Some interesting ruins...

Some horses, who were all quite anxious to come over and say Hi...

Some goats.

There's apparently a seal colony on Inis Mor, but we weren't planning on staying long enough to see it.

After the walk along the coast, we trekked back to Kilronan for some shopping and lunch. The Aran Isles are most known for the creating of intricately patterned fisherman sweaters, and as such, the big tourism draw in Kilronan is the Aran Sweater Museum.

Earthling and I spent some significant time here, perusing the sweaters for sale. The theory of an Aran sweater states that each family has its own unique pattern, and that each individual stitch has a symbolic meaning. I've yet to hear conclusive evidence to that fact (I've actually heard some pretty hard evidence that points to the opposite), but it's a nice theory anyway, and the sweaters there were pretty. Earthling and I bought enough yarn there for sweaters. Lunch was at the pub across the street from the museum. I had Irish stew, which was nice on a raw, rainy day.

Some views of the harbor around Kilronan:

Another:

And another:

And another:

And another:

The ferry line that took us back to the mainland:

And then it was back to Galway after an eventful day.