Photos and the City

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.

After the Highland Games in Tobermory, I went to explore Glengorm Castle and the Standing Stones. Here is the first view of the castle.

And a view over Mull  – just because it is stunning!

I started my walk around the castle and to the Standing Stones with a little stop and coffee in the café.

Glengorm Castle, also known as Castle Sorne, was built in the 19th century as a country house.

The Mishnish estate was purchased in 1856 by James Forsyth of Quinish. He cleared the existing townships to make way for the new house, which was completed in 1860. (Wikipedia)

You can stay at the castle; there are different self-catering possibilities. Inside the castle and also little cottages on the grounds. But it is possible to visit the café and walk on the ground to get to the standing stones.

The Glengorm standing stones. The setting of three standing stones, but two of them were reerected later. There are notes that only one stone was still standing in the 18th century.

All three of them are over 2m high.

Excavation revealed that the eastern stone had previously been moved and originally stood in line with the other two and formed the southern end of the row. This work also discovered evidence for historic interference, a charcoal filled pit near the central stone and cremated bones south west of the northern stone. (Stonerows)