Sabbatical Day 12: Iona

don’t remember the first time I heard about Iona, the “thin place” between this realm and the next. I do remember the stories of every person I know who has been to Iona and loved it. Virtually everyone who has been comes away enamored with the place. 

When I first started planning this sabbatical time I looked at coming to Iona. That was December 2019. All the places were already booked for the summer of 2020. So I went a different direction, the retreat to Ireland. Then COVID and well, the big disruption. This summer as I began to plan a trip around the retreat to Ireland I once again looked into Iona, and it was once again completely booked. So I worked on ideas - a trip to Edinburgh, a trip to my ancestors home of Galston, a trip to Paris with my husband. All built around the retreat in Ireland. I created a well thought out, well planned itinerary that would make the most of my time in this area. 


And then COVID once again threw a monkey wrench into the whole thing. Instead of Ireland I got a five day retreat (snark)  in solitude in an Holiday Inn Express in Glasgow, with a view of a parking garage. How to redeem that? Five days after a COVID positive test I tested negative and could travel about. But now I had six days to fil before Paris…so,  out what to do….


Which is why, and how, I ended up in Oban for two half days and one full day. And that one full day I used to travel to and from Iona. A day trip was totally possible, albeit a bit of a touristy thing to do. The trip involves two ferry rides and one long bus ride (2 hours) across the Isle of Mull, about 3 hours each way. 


When I arrived in Oban yesterday, after checking in to my hotel, I walked the 1/2 mile back into town and inquired about the ferry/bus trip. I ended up purchasing round trip ferry rides, Oban to the Isle Mull (port city of Craignure, population about 200), and Isle of Mull ( port city of Fionnphort - meaning white port, population 80 approx) to Iona. For the bus ticket I downloaded the bus app and purchased a one day pass to any where on Mull, unlimited rides. It was all very easy, and not very expensive, maybe $60 all total in US dollars/ 


I decided to take the earliest ferry possible. So, I got up at six, left the hotel at 6:45, and got to the boat launch about 7:05. We boarded the ferry at 7:20 and I followed the line to the dining room where I purchased coffee and a platter of eggs, bacon and sausage, and toast. I found a table near a window and scarfed down the meal (well, not all of it, but enough). The coffee was the same bad coffee from the same bad coffee machines I’ve had the hotels. Tasteless and weak, but it probably had a little caffeine. 


The ferry ride over was mystical, beautiful. I walked from place to place on the ferry taking pictures. 



















We landed on the Isle of Mull and found the bus easily. The bus ride was breath-takingly gorgeous. Honestly. What a beautiful place. I had a window seat and took so many photos.















 The bus driver was entertaining, full of stories and facts about Mull, very interesting. We arrived in Fionnphort about 10am and caught the ferry to Iona, a very short ferry ride. It probably takes longer to load and unload every one than it does to cross over. 


Iona. I don’t even know what to say. No. I do. I want to go back when it is not tourist season. When I can stay and just be. I want to just sit and be. That’s what it calls for. 


But, today wasn’t that day.


I was one of the first off the ferry so I was able to take in some of the first sites with relatively few people around me. Iona is small island settled by St. Columba, when he came over from Ireland in 563. It’s considered the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland. One for the first buildings I came are the ruins of the nunnery. The nunnery is a building where women lived sometime in the 13th century. Beautiful flowers adorn the ruins. 














From the nunnery I walked up to the cemetery and the Abby. Spent time in the Abby and the museum. It’s stunning. 




















Then I walked through all of the gift shops and bought a few small items. I had lunch in the little cafe at the historic center - carrot/lentil/cumin soup and a thick slice of bread with butter, and a good cup of hot coffee. I wandered a bit more then headed back to the ferry and the Isle of Mull. I had to wait a bit for the bus and the return trip. There were a bunch of us waiting, although all of the others were from Holland. 


I’ve spent a lot of time being around people who speak a different language than I. Even those who speak English speak it with a thick Scottish accent. I’m okay with that. I live in a town where many of the people speak Arabic, I’m accustomed to hearing people speak in other languages. 


The trip back was lovely in a different way because the sun was shining. 



















Tomorrow I leave Scotland. My time here has not been at all what I thought it would be. The weather has been moody, but not as cold as I anticipated. I was able to stand on the land of my ancestors and breath the air. I can’t say that I had any kind of mystical experiences from it. But who knows, maybe a seed has been planted and something will take root that I could not have imagined. Time will tell. 

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