Welcome to the Isle of Iona! It just takes a few minutes on the boat to cross from the Isle of Mull to Iona. After leaving the jetty, there is information about the island right away.
I just started walking along the main road, letting it take me somewhere. It took me to the Iona Craft Shop, where I fell in love with all the wool while drinking the best coffee, and also to the Iona Nunnery.
The Isle of Iona
has been a vibrant centre of Christian worship ever since St Columba arrived in AD 563.
Iona is a holy isle and has been described as the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland. St Columba and 12 companions came here from Ireland in AD 563. (Historic Enviroment)
The Iona Nunnery was an Augustinian convent of nuns. It was established sometime after the foundation of the nearby Benedictine monastery in 1203.
This was one of only two Augustinian nunneries in Scotland, the other one being in Perth.
The construction of the Iona Nunnery follows the typical Irish style. The Church consists of a building with three bays with a passage to the north side and a small chapel on the east side of the passage. (Wikipedia)
There were rooms on the ground floor and a dormitory above. Part of one wing is below the road now.
From the nunnery, I walked towards the abbey but made a stop at the local museum, the Iona Heritage Center. It shows life in Iona in the last centuries and craftwork.
View towards the village and the Isle of Mull.
