Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
There are three pubs on the island, one small grocery store (see “Eating on Inisheer,”
later), and no ATMs. All of the sights, with the exception of the lonely lighthouse on the
southern coast, are concentrated on the northern half of an already small island.
Inisheer lacks the dramatic (and much higher) coastal cliffs of Inishmore, but has its
own unique photogenic charms. Fans of the 1990s British sitcom
Father Ted
may recog-
nize parts of the island, which were featured in the show's intro depicting its fictional
Craggy Island location.
The sights described below are free, open all the time, and marked on your free boat com-
pany map. See them in the order listed, from west to east, across the northern half of the
island. If you bike rather than hike, be prepared to walk the bike up (or down) short, steep
hills.
O'Brien's Castle (Caislean Ui Bhriain)
The ruins of this castle dominate the hilltop and are visible from almost anywhere on the
northern half of the island. It's a steep 20-minute walk from the pier up to the castle ruins.
The small castle was built as a tower house refuge around 1400 by the O'Brien clan from
nearby County Clare. It sits inside a low wall of a much older Iron Age ring fort. Crom-
well's troops attacked the castle in 1652, leaving the evocative ruins you see today.
If you've huffed your way up to O'Brien's Castle, then go another easy five minutes to
the
Napoleonic Tower (An Tur Faire),
which was built in the early 1800s to watch for
a feared French invasion that never took place. The views from this highest point on the
island are worth it.
• Consult your map and continue walking (south) on the paved road into the heart of the
island. Take your first right turn, roughly 100 yards after the Napoleonic Tower, onto
a rocky, grassy cow lane that zigzags downhill into a lush
hidden valley,
displaying the
prettiest mosaic of ivy-tangled rock walls and small green fields I've seen anywhere on
the Aran Islands. Unholster your camera and fire away.
