Travel office sign. It was a free day for those of us on the Northern Ireland pretour, so seven of us decided to go to Inishmore in the Aran Islands.

After getting our ferry tickets, we got on a bus in Galway which took us on a long hour drive to the pier at Ros a' Mhil. We got there not too long before the ferry would leave. It was packed, with about 250-300 passengers.

The ferry took about 45 minutes to reach Inishmore, the largest of the three Aran Islands off the coast of Galway. Inishmaa is the second largest, and Inisheer, the smallest. Photo: arriving at Inishmore.

The population of Inishmore is about 830 and there is only one real town, Kilronan, where the ferry dropped us off.

Another view.

After a bit of time orientating ourselves, we climbed into a sightseeing minibus at the harbor. We never did have time to visit this big Aran sweater market either before or after our tour. (I took many photos from the minibus and their colors were affected by the color of the minibus's windows.)

The whole island is rural.

Along with some houses, there are numerous ruins of buildings--churches, forts, monasteries, houses, etc.--on the island.

Closer-up of the ruin.

A fort in the distance.

Close-up.

There are also numerous dry stone walls on the islands. They are used as land borders and also to keep farm animals from roaming. Our driver, also our tour guide for the day, said some of them are from the Viking era. Many are also from the colonial English era when the Irish farmers had to break up their farms upon their deaths into equal parts to each of their sons, resulting in very small farm plots.

A hiker petting a horse. Besides traveling by minibus, many visitors hike the island or ride bikes around it.

Some also go by horse and buggy (much more expensive than by minibus).

The rocky coast. We looked for seals but only saw a seal's head popping out of the water at a distance.

A stop to view these ruins--perhaps a monastery but I am not sure.

More of the ruins.

A lonely house.

Cows grazing. It is very rocky on the island but grass grows well.

A house with a thatched roof.

Perhaps a church or a house.

A small house.

A thatched roof on a dry stone (no morter between the rocks) barn.

Another thatched roof.

Close-up.

A road on Inishmore.

The Seven Churches seen from above, our next stop.

Originally, there were seven churches here, but only two remain. The one in the photo is Teampall Bhreacain, part of dating back to the 8th century,

On the grounds are also old graves and ruins of dwelling houses. St. Breacan is buried here and some sites say there are seven saints buried.

Celtic crosses. There are also recent graves in the churchyard, meaning that these people have been buried with at least one saint.

A gravestone in Gaelic. The residents of Inishmore speak Gaelic (Irish) to each other though they speak English as well.

On the back wall in this photo are two black plaques.

"VII Romani. This 8th century cross slab commemorating the 'seven Romans' testified to the fame of Aran's schools which attracted students from Imperial Rome." This was after the Fall of the Roman Empire. Inishmore was a pilgrimage site on the way to Rome and also a center of Christian learning.

"Stone with incised 6th/9th century cross commemorating Thomas the Abbot."

Teampall Bhreacain.

“The original small church, with projecting side walls, dates from the 8th century. Later it was extended to the south, and an arch was opened in the east wall. A chancel was added in the 10th century. The lines of the original building are clearly seen in the west gable. The south doorway is late mediaeval, and to this period of reconstruction belongs the partition wall of the nave.”

Teampall Bhreacain.

Teampall Bhreacain.

Teampall Bhreacain.

Teampall Bhreacain.

A very old, mostly unreadable, gravestone in the church.

Probably gravestones.

Graves. The grave with three upright stones looks like a photo of St. Breacan's gravesite.

This might be the ruins of the second church here.

Back on the road, a small farm house.

Another one needing some roof work. Many of the roofs on these houses were originally thatched roofs but were updated to new materials.

A water trough for farm animals.

On a road down to the water.

A lighthouse.

Close-up.

The Aran fishermen use boats called currachs, which stretch canvas over a lathe skeleton, which is then covered with tar. These boasts can withstand the rough seas.

Rock art here.

Rock art.

Rock art.

Wild flowers.

The rough coastline.

The rough coastline.

Cows grazing nearby.

Many dry stone walls.

A country house.

All alone.

More cows.

A dry stone barn.

Close-up of the stones.

A church in ruins.

Our last stop. I ate lunch at this small restaurant.

Part of the menu. One item was home baked ham salad. Ham is most often called bacon in Ireland. Bacon is also called bacon but it is not like our bacon, but rather seems to be thin slices of ham crisply fried up. I had the beef Guinness stew.

The beef Guinness stew. It had different flavor from regular stew and it was okay. Some people very much liked it.

The Irish make wonderful strawberry shortcakes--my delightful dessert.

There were stores across from the restaurant, mainly selling Aran sweathers.

The An Tuirne. Its sweaters are handmade by Aran women.

I think this store in front was selling Celtic items.

The store from its back showing its thatched roof.

Here was the path to the Dun Aengus (Dun Aoghasa) fort dating back to 1100 BC. The fort is a 1/2-mile walk (1-km) walk up a steep rocky hill of uneven terrain. It is the major site on Inishmore but I think only one in our group climbed up to see it. The fort is from circa 1100 BC and is of three rows of half-circles at the cliff's edge. There are no guardrails. (Photo borrowed.)

Bicycle riding is popular on the island.

The houses in this area.

Back on the road, going toward the harbor.

Another old church.

The countryside.

More of the countryside.

An old cross.

An old church.

Back at the dock and we got right on the ferry to return to Galway.