Iona

We were lucky with just some drizzle for our trip to Iona. The last 2 Rick Steve's tours couldn't get there because of the storms this last week and ferries not running. It's a long trip and not much time there, but we spent ours at the abbey, (with a brief tour from Fiona, who lives on Iona.) where St. Colombo originally brought Christianity to Scotland from Ireland. The monks wrote the famous book of Kells here in the 8th C. Then those Vikings came pillaging and killing and the book was evacuated, now in Dublin. There is a mixture of Celtic crosses, medieval carvings, an excellent museum with many of the original gravestones and crosses. And a peaceful cloister. Which we always appreciate. This one has been rebuilt like much of the abbey but I think these are 2 of the original Columns. The "new ones" are wonderful too. H and I decided to record "happy birthday" .here in the cloisters ....a selfie video.. for our granddaughter Tatum who turns 14 today . Then later I "had to" buy an ice cream in a cafe to use their wifi to send the text message. It worked! The extra is one of the reconstructed crosses for St Colombo outside the well used abbey church so you get a feel for the day... think that is the little ferry from the isle of a Mull in the background, Our lovely bus driver guide, Sheila, explained to me where blipper Trishnish lived.. far to the North of where we were.. . but I waved. :-)
H and I stopped for an excellent fish dinner by the harbor when we got back at EE-USK ( Gaelic for fish) before collapsing in our very nice room.