rootless

I press my camera right up against the glass of the window so I won’t get glare in the photo.  The little twin engine, eight passenger aircraft lifts

smoothly in spite of the buffeting the wind gives it.  We can see the rocky coast line shrink and the appearance of the tiny fishing boats gives

perspective to the height the plane is gaining.  But we really haven’t gained

much altitude when we begin to descend.  It has only taken us 6 minutes to make the short flight from Ireland to Enis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands.   This small string of islands lies off the east coast of extremely rocky Ireland and is even rockier than the mainland.  In fact, Enis Mor originally was nothing but solid rock.  Over the centuries, its inhabitants have literally made top soil by hauling up kelp and sea bottom from the surrounding ocean.

That is pretty tough when you have to make your own dirt and life on this island has always been hard.  The wind blows hard all the time.  The innumerable rock walls built to clear the areas for farming are purposely built with space between the rocks to let the wind blow through.  As the soil was formed, more crops were feasible, but there are no trees, so no wood.  In the old days, peat was shipped to the barren island, now they have electricity run through a cable undersea from the mainland.  But the elements have taken their toll on the people of the island; for many, many years.

However, there is evidence that life has been on this island to tolerate and conquer the harsh environment for a very, VERY long of time.

A hike up along the rock walls will lead you to the island’s edge and a precipice overlooking the ocean.

Off the edge, the ocean beats away at the tiny island unmercifully, but on the

top the remains of an ancient semi-circular wall of a pre-Christian fort left by what

people and how long ago; no one really knows for sure.

What they call Dun Aonghasa only partially remains.  A large portion has been taken by the sea most probably by an abrupt cracking of the cliff allowing a large section, of the what was once believed to be a complete circle, to drop into the ocean below.

 
This unusual island with its mysterious past and its harsh yet beautiful 

present, is all at once gray and foreboding

and strong and colorful.

 

 

 

 

If any place could evoke the dichotomy that is the Irish people; sensitive and boisterous, lively and somber, Inis Mor of the Aran Islands must be it.

 

 

 

Posted on October 25th, 2009 by dianagene
Filed under: Europe Trip