With the weather looking ominous and Rob still under the weather, he bid me farewell with some anxiety. Will she lose her credit card? Or her glasses? Will she fall … and break something … since I won’t be there to hold her hand?
So our group left Galway for the day and continued by bus along the Wild Atlantic Way. This is similar to the Pacific Coast Highway.
Ryanair is an Ireland-based company. It has made air travel cheap enough for people to fly to other countries today. However, our guide said that his family would go every year to nearby Salt Hill in Galway for vacation.
This is a Salt Hill anthem: The Galway Girl. Although the film P.S. I Love You was not a critical success, the song is part of the plot.
On our drive to catch the ferry, our guide said that people in Galway will ask if you “kicked the wall”. This is a way to ask if you have walked along a 3-mile seaside path. It is similar to our Venice Beach in California.
Many people swim in the sea year round. It has always been popular but even moreso during COVID.
Many fishermen never learned to swim. They would put their family crest on their sweaters so if they washed ashore, their family could be notified.
A ferry took us to the Aran Islands. Dun Aengus is an ancient, cliff-hanging Celtic
fortress on Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands.
Aran Islands are known for their wool sweaters. They were beautiful, but what do I need with a wool sweater in hot and humid Virginia so I resisted.
The island is 3 miles x 11 miles with a population of 720. Everyone knows everyone and what they are doing.
There are no sheep on the island. The sheep eat the grass too far down. The Islanders buy the wool from the mainland and take it back to the island to weave. (Donkeys are used for lawn mowers.)
The tourist season lasts from March 17 to the end of October. Most of the Islanders have second jobs. Farmers get up early before the tourists arrive especially to milk the cows. And then milk them again in the evening. There are no days off.
Whenever a spring well was located, a village would pop up. There are 14 villages on this island. They have four pubs.
There are 1,500 miles of stone wall on 7,600-acre Inishmore island. 75% of the island is used for grazing. Most are small farms. The largest farm is 365 acres.
Potatoes are planted from March 17 to April 1. Harvest starts July 15 and continues through October.
Sixty students attend the island’s high school. If they want to continue their studies, they must go to the mainland. Galway is a college town.
We started our journey to the famous Dun Aengus.
Cycling is important in Ireland. A program called Cycle to Work was enacted to encourage cycling. In fact, one could use the tax money that was owed to buy a bicycle and reduce your tax bill. Our guide’s brother-in-law was thrilled and bought a 5,000€ ($5,800) bike. It has become a very expensive laundry rack.
Recommended movies about the Aran Islands are:
- The Matchmaker – filmed on the Aran Islands
- Leap Year – filmed on the Aran Islands
- Man of Aran (1934) – fictional documentary (ethnofiction). I am intrigued by that genre.
- The Guard is a recommended movie filmed in Galway with lots of great one liners. In fact, one can watch it many times and still enjoy it.
History
The window tax set up by William III in 1696 was based on the number of windows a house had. It assumed larger, wealthier homes had more windows.
The phrase Daylight Robbery comes from people blocking their windows with bricks to save money, shutting out light and air.
However, poor ventilation trapped foul air and helped spread dangerous illnesses like typhus. It created a public health crisis. This led to its repeal in the 19th century. One can still see old, bricked-up windows on historical Georgian buildings across Ireland today.
An Irish Wake is a big occasion. Family and friends gather and share stories and food and prayers. The grave is dug with a pick and shovel. Mirrors are covered and a window is open for the soul to depart. The deceased is accompanied by someone at all times for three days before the burial.
An American Wake was held when someone left Ireland for America. They would never be seen again so mourning was appropriate. Historically, it was so expensive that they wouldn’t come back but would often be the saving of the family since they could send money back to the family.
If one wants to work in Ireland, it is necessary to get a work visa. Health care is in big demand. One can retire here if he can prove that he won’t be a drain on their economy.
If you have Irish grandparents, you can get an Irish passport. I am going to tell my 99-year-old mother-in-law whose grandmother was Irish from Sneem in County Kerry.
It took me a while to practice some craic with a local. I sat down for lunch while he was enjoying Guinness. By the time that I left, we were good friends. We talked sports (It was on the TV), American culture (There were pictures of JFK, Muhammed Ali, and even Elvis on the walks), and his occupation before retirement (fisherman).
After my persistence and several glasses of Guinness, we shared some laughs and friendly competition between the way America does things and the way Ireland does things.
Driving: Ireland drives on the left, America drives on the right … so we are RIGHT and you are, well, wrong. I won this one with a chuckle from Redmond.
Writing the date: Ireland writes day, month, year and Americans write month, day, year so Redmond says day comes first, and then month, then year so it goes from smaller to larger so I agree that Redmond’s way and logic made more sense.
Church Attendence: Redmond shared that he goes to mass every other Sunday. This amused me so I inquired why he didn’t go every Sunday. He indicated that his Saturday night at the pub prevented his attendance. So logically, I asked if he didn’t go drinking in the pub on his off Saturday. Hmmm. He didn’t really give me an answer that made sense.
At this point, Redmond was concerned that I would miss my ferry and encouraged me to leave. Was this legitimate concern or his way to politely get rid of me? 😂 Maybe the joke was on me, and he has some good craic to share with his friends later tonight!!
Once back at the hotel, Rob and I went out for a quick dinner. Pizza is called the duct tape of food.
That phrase is usually applied to bacon because you can “wrap it around anything”. However, pizza shares those same universal traits. It fixes any mood and works for celebrations, sad days, or late nights. It is cheap, fast, and needs no utensils. It pleases everyone.
We called it an early night so Rob’s health could continue to improve. While in bed, I heard a distant but constant beat that was keeping me awake … then it stopped. The next morning, Pascal told us that there was a flash mob of Riverdance!
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