Educational European Tours

Last month I focused my posts on Dublin as we’ll have two afternoons forth of free-time there. This month, I’d like to offer posts with some information and ideas for free-time at the end of our tour.

On day 8 of our tour we will be in Galway with a tough choice to make! On one hand participants can choose to have a full day of free-time in the Galway area, and on the other there is an optional excursion offered that day to the Aran Islands.

photos courtesy of passports.com

For me it’s an especially tough call as Galway is my favorite city in Ireland, and the region surrounding it is absolutely breathtaking and packed with places I’d love to revisit or see for the first time. So, of course, I have tons of suggestions for those who choose the free-time option (but those will have to wait for another post later this month).

However, the Aran Islands is such a unique experience (and something new for me as it was not offered as part of our last tour) that I’m planning to join that optional excursion. Thus my first April post is on the Aran Islands optional excursion.

Excursion to the Aran Islands

Take a seat aboard a minivan for a tour led by a driver/guide well acquainted with the history of the Aran Islands and the way of life of its inhabitants.

Windswept, yet never touched by frost, Inishmore, like the other Aran Islands, is a paradise for wildflowers, with hundreds of varieties. These islands are also renowned for their crafts, in particular the famous Aran knitwear. You may want to begin your explorations at the Aran Heritage Centre, Ionad Arann, located near the port of Kilronan. A tour of the center will present two millennia of this Celtic island's history, language and traditions.

Visit the stone fort of Dun Aenghus, one of Europe's finest prehistoric monuments, located in a spectacular setting at the edge of a cliff, some sixty feet above sea level.

The Aran Islands are the perfect site to explore for those who have an interest in the Irish language, cycling, walking, nature, Irish music and crafts, archeology and history. The day 8 excursion is $70.