Isle of Iona

Iona and its abbey are among the more famous names in Christianity. It was here in 563 that St. Columba came from Ireland to found an abbey and spread the gospel. And from here much of Scotland was Christianized. At the abbey on Iona is where the very famous Book of Kells was written and long kept until the monks moved it elsewhere during the age of Viking raids. And it was from Iona that monks dispersed after those raids, established monasteries in Belgium, France, and Switzerland, and did their part to keep learning alive in those darker times.

The abbey from the channel

Ruins of the nunnery down the road

The abbey; still in use by a variety of "spiritual" groups

Oldest of the giant Celtic crosses still
standing...St. Martin's, 8th century

Chapel under which St. Columba's bones are
said to lie

Interior of abbey church

Interesting face on one of the church arches

Cloister

In the abbey museum, the Stone of Echodi,
said to be the oldest of the carved stones,
approximately a generation after Columba

Other stones in the museum, warriors, and note the Viking
ship at the bottom of the tall stone

Cemetery and oldest building still standing; next to it is a
plot thought to be the burial ground of Scotland's ancient
kings, presumably including Macbeth

Isle of Mull

Although Mull seems a nice enough place itself--a large island, just a few miles off the mainland, home of the Tobermory Distillery (intense smokiness...), Clan Maclean, numerous mussel farms, forests, farms, sheep, two menhirs, some hotels and B&Bs, not very many people, one-lane roads, and much rugged Scottish landscape both coastal and mountainous--for most, including us, it is simply the intermediary to getting to Iona, home of the famous Abbey of St. Columba, the Book of Kells, and so on. You take the bus across and down Mull and then hop on another ferry, which takes you the mile or two across the channel to Iona.

Castle Duart, ancient stronghold of Clan Maclean

Disgorging ferry

And now we are on the turbuss

Right behind the driver, Vicki in her accustomed "suicide
seat," probably wishing the driver would slow down;
she has not let me forget Penelope's "Grandpa, slow down!"

Enjoying the driver's amusing 90 minute narration of Mull's
history, geography, geology, climate, culture, commerce,
scenic wonders, colorful characters, etc. Above, one of the
several mussel farms we saw 

Mountains, waterfalls

Typical

One of the menhirs

At last we are on the southwest coast, ready to board the
next, smaller ferry, which will take us to Iona

Iona in the distance, the abbey smack in the center

Oban

Oban is a big town on a little cove (so it seemed) on the coast. Its principal purpose, so far as I could tell, is 1) to serve as a holding area for thousands of tourists (ourselves included), 2) be the site of the Oban distillery (which we skipped; Oban is a good Islay, but no distillery tour nor Scotch could top Kirkwall and Highland Park), and 3) be the jumping off point for tours of the Isle of Mull and Iona. There were scores of RVs circling the narrow streets, looking for parking, particularly over-night parking, including us.

We lucked-out, totally, with this almost-level spot...

Over looking the harbor

Just a few hundred yards from the ferry-port from which
this vessel would take us, next day, to the Isle of Mull

We spent the afternoon and evening walking about the
town, purchasing our cruise tickets, shopping and examining
restaurants (finally opting for a shellfish extravaganza I put
together on the wharf)

We have been having a running discussion about
the proper use of the word scotch, I insisting it refers only
to a certain beverage and is a noun, Vicki, that it refers to
anything Scottish and is (also) an adjective; above is her
Exhibit A; it is also Exhibit A in my subsidiary argument that
not all Scots are well-educated and that some have succumbed
to popular if ignorant usage; the discussion continues

Note the "Afternoon Fish Tea"

Next morning, we are aboard the ferry, bound for Mull,
watching the loading of turbusses

Sailing out of Oban's harbor

And on to the Isle of Mull

On The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks Of Loch Lomond; And Beyond

Pleased with our visit to Glasgow, some old, a lot of new, a lot of walking around, we drove on in the general direction of our next destination, Oban. We over-nighted on the Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond.

Thus

And thus

Next morning, elements of the fleet were massing...

It was to be a Combined Operation, land and sea (OK, I have
been reading at a biography of Lord Louie Mountbatten)

We drove on

Enjoying the sights

Pausing to refresh

Now reaching the coast

And proceeding on, through a succession of villages and
towns, in the direction of Oban

Willow Tea Rooms

Catherine Cranston was apparently queen of the Victorian tea rooms in Glasgow. She engaged Mackintosh to design four different establishments, but only one, the Willow, survives. It has been returned to its Victorian/Mackintosh look, and includes both the very popular and crowded tea rooms as well as a Mackintosh museum/gift shoppe on the ground floor. The room you want to see, and possibly dine in, is the Room De Luxe on the (British) first floor. We had lunch there after our tour of the School of Art.

The Willow Tea Rooms

On the breakfast menu, Vicki pointed out the traditional
Scottish porridge, served with a shot of Drambuie!

For half a nano-second, I considered the traditional haggis, neeps, and tatties
(or is it haggis neeps and tatties?), but remembered my previous injunction
that HN&T is a dish to enjoy before ever reading the list of ingredients;
I opted instead for the above St. Andrews Platter, smoked Scottish salmon,
trout, and shrimp; Vicki had the burger

Panning around the Room De Luxe, photos by Vicki

Ditto

Ditto again

The 1st floor tea room

Glasgow School of Art

The next stop on our Mackintosh tour was the Glasgow School of Art. Mackintosh designed it at the turn of the century. What is truly remarkable is that he was only 28 at the same, a very junior employee at the firm, and had only recently "graduated" from GSA, having been a night student there for several years. Someone at GSA very definitely had an eye for genius and a willingness to take big risks. Unfortunately, the school has a no interior photos policy (privacy of students and faculty) and so what little I have is outside. The best room on the inside, we thought, was the library, a small photo of which I grabbed off the GSA site. Mackintosh was a bit of a control freak--great architects are like this, I surmise--it was not enough to design the entire building; he had to do all its contents too, furniture, even the signage. For the Willow Tea Rooms (next stop), he even did the silverware, towels, tables and chairs, all now quite famous.