We are living in a very big place.

-Sakyong Mipham, Ruling Your World

(photo from Inishmore, Summer 2011)

When you’re way up high and you look below

at the world you left and the things you know,

little more than a glance is enough to show you

just how small you are.

- Into the Woods, Stephen Sondheim

I had a great time interviewing Kimberly Bellows, one of my Twitter followers, about her day trip to the Aran Islands in August 2011. She had been traveling throughout Ireland all by herself for about a week before she got to Aran. After staying for a while in Belfast she made her way to Galway, and since all the guidebooks said Aran was where she must go, that’s where she went.

I went to Aran with a pretty blank slate. I really had no expectations other than sweaters and biking. I spent the day riding around the island stopping to take pictures every fifty feet. I couldn’t stop smiling….The only noise was when one of those crazy vans would drive past me or when one of the horse and carts would go by. There was no real noise.

For Kim, who has spent most of her life in metropolitan areas, this was a huge change, a change she genuinely enjoyed.

(Kimberly having a great time on Inishmore)

On Aran, after biking around the island all day and being blown away by how peaceful and beautiful it was, she found herself alone at the abandoned lighthouse:

I pushed my bike up to the highest point on the island and there was no one there. I’d seen tourists around but there were so many parts of the island where there was just no one else.

(The Lighthouse, Inishmore)

So I was on the top of the island just looking out. I remember thinking how abandoned it seemed. And — I think this is pretty indicative of what a rule follower I am — I kept thinking, “Am I allowed to be up here, to go into this abandoned building?” And I thought, “Well there’s no one here to stop me so I might as well look around!” I walked around the perimeter a little bit and I walked out in the grass, and I just remember feeling really alone, and…I really liked it. I liked being alone up there.

(Field near the lighthouse, Inishmore)

[At the building] there was a window, but it didn’t have any glass on it, and there was a tiny little flower growing in the windowsill. Just one little flower growing out of this huge building. There were flowers around the perimeter where the grass was but not really in the building area and I thought…that one little thing all by itself, that’s how I felt at that moment.

(All photos courtesy of Kimberly Bellows. Follow her on Twitter, @kmbellows. Currently she’s teaching English in Chile.)

What is it about the Aran Islands? I’ve been collecting interviews with islanders, visitors, tourists, and people who are just extremely passionate about the islands, and some of the responses I’ve gotten are just too beautiful not to share. If you’ve been to the Aran Islands and have an opinion, an anecdote, or just feel inspired, e-mail me. I would love to know your story.

You have to remember that [in the Bronze Age] you have a landscape that’s covered with oaks, ewes, native trees…this island was definitely covered at that point in time, so it was a woodland and personally, my own personal view is, we were still connected to the mainland. Tides were still rising, there’s evidence that Galway Bay was an inshore lake, there’s a lot of evidence for that. At the Black Fort, west of it, there’s a gulley. Now the gulley is probably remnants of the Ice Age, of a glacier, when a glacier would have flowed out through this valley but it’s also a weak part of our strata. The island is a series of humps - if you imagine a camel’s back. These valleys are almost like a V, a wedge shape that points to the south, but when the sea cuts through that point it actually eats through quite quickly because there are two balances of stone: you have blue stone and gray stone, and the gray stone is soft. When the sea hits it cuts through the gray stone, and if you ask me (and some people thing I’m insane) but I think we’re gonna have another island.

- C, Aran Island resident

What is it about the Aran Islands? I’ve been collecting interviews with islanders, visitors, tourists, and people who are just extremely passionate about the islands, and some of the responses I’ve gotten are just too beautiful not to share. If you’ve been to the Aran Islands and have an opinion, an anecdote, or just feel inspired, e-mail me. I would love to know your story.

The force of the sea against the stone is impressive. It is the heartbeat of the planet. It is the place where the clouds are born. And this is the place where the earth cries. The reef consists of two steps. The highest and furthest from the water is still battered from the water and wind, so that its base has been excavated. Black caves opened as stab wounds inflicted to the rock.

It could seem a hopeless place, but that place is a miracle. From the rocks and the little soil above, the rain in billions of rivers as big as drops, brings fresh water down to the rocks and the sea, creating puddles around which grow a light green dazzling vegetation. A stylish carpet adorns the rocks.

Then you understand Sea and Stone, the two great enemies. The stone, furrowed and penetrated by water, learns that it’s not indestructible and unchangeable. The sea learns that it exists because ground limits it, and that crashing on ground creates the heart beat of the planet.

- Max Querci Robertson, visitor to Aran from Italy.

What is it about the Aran Islands? I’ve been collecting interviews with islanders, visitors, tourists, and people who are just extremely passionate about the islands, and some of the responses I’ve gotten are just too beautiful not to share. If you’ve been to the Aran Islands and have an opinion, an anecdote, or just feel inspired, e-mail me. I would love to know your story.

The Wormhole (Poll na bPeist).

I took this video when I was there because I was completely blown away by the landscape, the color, the variations of texture, everything. It’s an amazing part of the island that not many people go to see because it’s rather difficult to get to. But if you’re visiting Inis mor and are able to take a walk off the beaten path, go see the Wormhole. (More info on how to get there in my blog post on the Aran Islands Blog).

Geology rocks, bro! The rocks give you a perspective. The monuments give you a time scale. And the people just give you a welcome. Other than that, what more could you ask for? The “real authentic Irish experience” is someone going to the back of the press and bringing you some potcheen. If that ever happens to you, you’re very welcome and you’ll be welcome back again. Forget about your shamrocks and your leprechauns. That’s what it’s about.

- L, young man on Inis mor

What is it about the Aran Islands? I’ve been collecting interviews with islanders, visitors, tourists, and people who are just extremely passionate about the islands, and some of the responses I’ve gotten are just too beautiful not to share. If you’ve been to the Aran Islands and have an opinion, an anecdote, or just feel inspired, e-mail me. I would love to know your story.