Last weekend we travelled to the Aran Islands. Before heading over there we got a little background on what life was like on the Island. We watched the movie Man of Aran, that was filmed on the Island in 1934. This really helped to give us some perspective of what life used to be like compared to it now. Life was quite difficult there. We found out from our short amount of time there that the weather definitely makes it even harder.
To get to the main island of the three that make up the Aran Islands, we took a large ferry. It was one of the roughest boat rides I had ever been on. It was a lot of fun to ride on the top, in the open, even though it was rainy. Coming from being land locked, I could get used to being surrounded by water. Maybe I need to move to an island?!
 |
| On top of the ferry ridding back to the main land. |
 |
While we were on the Island some interesting facts that I found out was that they didn't actually get electricity until 1975. Also unlike on the main land where people use peat to heat their houses, they only use oil or coal here. I also found it quite interesting that because the ground is mostly limestone, they aren’t able to grow much on the Island. Before goods were shipped from the main land, they would break up the limestone, haul seaweed from the ocean to cover the rock, and then what soil they could scrape up or find they would put that on top of the seaweed. It was a lot of work to create even just a small area to grow any crops. One advantage of all the limestone on the island is they don’t have to pour a foundation for the houses. As you can see in the photo the limestone is quite smooth. They also use it to build the stone walls.
 |
The trip to island was a wet, windy, and memorable time. I really enjoy connecting what we are learning in our classes to the actual places we visit. Having some background to the area helps me to appreciate and be more knowledgeable about what I am seeing.
 |
| Had to leave my mark on the island! |
No comments:
Post a Comment