Entrance to the Innermost Enclosure of Dun Aonghasa
I was surprised with the scale of Dun Aonghasa. This is a large hill top stone fort built on the end of a cliff facing the Atlantic Ocean on the island of Inishmore. Archeologists are still debating about the purpose of the fort or even who owned it. It seems that Aonghasa refers to the name Aongus but researchers do not know who this person was. There are guesses that he might be related to kings in Cashel. With a location this remote, I doubt the king would remember anything about it. Anyway, the fort has three layers of walls visitors needs to pass through. The walls appear at varying elevations on the hill so they are described to be terraced.
Walls of Dun Aonghasa
The innermost walls of Dun Aonghasa are the most well preserved ones. These are visibly much thicker than the two previous walls I passed through. This is also where most of the visitors are. It is not overflowing with tourists but you can see that there are significantly more people here. I guess if you make it here early in the morning you can have this place all to yourself. The ground is uneven here so it pays to watch your step.
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