I just returned from my trip to Iona about two hours ago. It was amazing. I went with three other Americans and my Japanese roommate who said that he wanted to see Scotland but was afraid to go by himself because of his English skills, which are actually fantastic.
We went up Sunday night to Oban and stayed at the Oban Youth Hostel. We stayed there for one night then got up in the morning to make the trek to Iona. We caught the ferry and the bus to Fionnphort then on another ferry.
We booked three nights at the Iona Hostel. It is a mile and a half from the ferry terminal, which is just a glorified boat landing. It seemed to take forever to get there with all of our bags. We arrived just after they reopened to take in new visitors. It is an absolute great place to stay! It has mattresses that are much better than the ones in my flat. The knives were sharp and the showers were hot. The entire place is rated "Green Tourist Gold" by the Scottish Tourist Board, which is extremely hard to get. The entire hard wood floor in the common room is made out of old whisky barrels. The warden is from Seattle as well which was good to talk to someone who knew where I was talking about.
We spend the days wandering around the island. The best part were the hidden coves and inlets on the western side of the Island, which has no roads and is only accessible by foot. It is basically all moor land. It was a trackless hike across the back of the island. We also went to the Abbey, which has been restored by the Iona Community. In any case, it was really good to see a place which figures so prominetly in early Irish history.
I am now ready to take on my dissertation.
posted by Chris #7:54 PM | 0 comments |
