We ship from the port of Rossaveal (located 40 km west of Galway) in the direction of Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. The storm that blew all night, we have a bit of apprehension, we'll be seasick?
Well no, but it was not true of everyone on the boat. At first it was funny but the more we came out of the bais of Galway, the more the boat was heckled.
For me that was on the upper deck, not down to join my wife who was downstairs. I filmed with my camera to get an idea of the situation.
Inishmore (grande île) en irlandais, est la plus grande, 14 km de long sur 3 km de large et la plus à l'Ouest des îles de l'archipel des îles d’Aran (en gaélique Oileáin Árann) qui sont un groupe d’îles situées à l’embouchure de la baie de Galway, à 17 km de la côte ouest de l’Irlande.
Inishmore est l’île la plus peuplée avec 831 habitants.
Arrivés dans le port de Kilronan qui est le principal village de l’archipel avec 270 habitants, nous avons pris un mini bus qui soit disant nous faisait visiter l'ile pendant trois heures. En fait il nous dépose à Dun Aengus (le fort préhistorique ) pendant 2h30, ensuite il nous fait faire une petite visite d'une partie de l'ile avant de nous ramener au port et tout ça pour la modique somme de 10€ par personne. Moi j'appelle ça du vol.
Pour le reste, c'était génial.
Dún Aengus est un site archéologique important, à la vue spectaculaire. On ne sait pas exactement quand il fut construit, mais on pense qu'il date de l'Âge du fer ou de la fin de l’âge du bronze.
À l'origine, ce fut probablement un ringfort (un fort en anneau) circulaire, sa situation précaire actuelle étant le résultat de plusieurs siècles d'érosion marine.
Dún Aengus a été appelé « le monument barbare the most beautiful in Europe. The name means "the fort of Aengus' eponymous god described in pre-Christian Irish mythology.
The fort consists of a four-chamber dry-stone wall on the innermost enclosing an area of four hectares. Parts of the masonry are remaining four meters in height. As part of the cliff and fort has since collapsed into the sea, it is unclear if the original shape was oval-shaped or D. Outside of the third wall, numerous standing stones are well preserved, are horses of Friesland, whose role was to prevent defensive attacks of assailants, mostly jumpers. It is also within the ruins a huge rectangular slab, whose function remains unknown. Surprisingly large for a prehistoric ruin, the outermost wall encloses an area of approximately 6 hectares. Although apparently much defensively, the particular location of Dún Aengus suggests that its primary use was religious and ceremonial rather than military. It may have been used by Druids for seasonal rituals, including ceremonial fires, visible from the coast of Ireland. The site also provides a view of not less than 120 km of coastline, which could allow de contrôler une importante voie commerciale côtière.
Les murs de Dún Aengus ont été reconstruits à une hauteur de 6 m, avec des chemins de ronde, des salles et des escaliers. L'usage du mortier permet de distinguer aisément la restauration de la construction originelle. Explorer Dún Aengus demande un peu d'escalade, et il n'y a pas de garde-fou au bord de la falaise, aussi ce n'est pas l'endroit à visiter avec de jeunes enfants ou avec des personnes à mobilité réduite. Il existe un petit musée illustrant l'histoire du fort et ses fonctions possibles.
Sources : Wikipédia
Ensuite un arrêt aux sept églises, endroit étrange où les petites églises are built next to each other and even seem intertwined.
We took pictures of the house where lived Robert Joseph Flaherty while filming the movie "The Man of Aran".
The sun accompanied us for a moment, time to distinguish Connemara on the horizon and then pick up great periwinkles from Kilronan (a good meal in the evening)
The return was much calmer, but we can not stop to think of people who lived on these islands are in very difficult conditions.
Historians have difficulty in knowing the real reason why people settled on these islands uninhabitable. What is certain is that they have worked to make them cultivable, digging for centuries furrows in the rock by mixing seaweed and sand which formed a rotting humus suitable for the cultivation of Potato and development of green grass, a treat for cattle. With the rock extracted from the soil, they built stone walls out of sight (an estimated 1 600 km the total length of walls on 3 islands!), Whose role was to limit erosion by wind and contain livestock.
Sources: http://www.terresceltes.net/Iles-d-Aran-Aran-Islands.html
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