Day 5, Islay

[low_delta]

We took a ferry from Kintyre peninsula to Islay. It's the southernmost of the Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland.




We sailed past Port Ellen Lighthouse into Kilnaughton Bay.







Then we drove over to Lagavulin,



and checked in at our B&B. Then another mile down the road to Ardbeg, for our afternoon tour. More on that later. Then we went a few miles further down the road to Kildalton Kirkyard.



The Kildalton Cross is a monolithic high cross in Celtic cross form in the churchyard of the former parish church of Kildalton on the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. It was probably carved in the second half of the 8th century AD, and is closely related to crosses of similar date on Iona. It is often considered the finest surviving Celtic cross in Scotland, and is certainly one of the most perfect monuments of its date to survive on western Europe.





If you're interested in these graves, I made a more detailed post about it at Mourning Souls.







Then we drove back to Port Ellen, and ate at the Islay Hotel. Good food, kinda fancy. I don't think my dad was happy, due to the price, but it was the only place we could find at that moment, and I figured we deserved to eat fancy sometimes on the trip. Besides, they had good whisky.

Comments

[planetgeorge.livejournal.com]

Ardbeg and Lagavulin are two single malts I've been wanting to try. So far the only Islay whiskys I've had are Bowmore and Laphroaig.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

If you like Laphroaig, you'll like those two as well.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

I wonder who is tasked with painting the light house? It is very pretty, but that seems like it would be a dangerous job.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Well, they'd have to wait for calm days.

Btw, It's one of the few square lighthouses.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

I missed it on the first look, my brain read the picture as a castle - I had to go back and find it. I like it.

Kildalton Kirkyard

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

One of the things that gets me about movies is when I look at your photos from the churchyard, I think "that's looks just like a movie!" It's like when we went to Philly 2 years ago, to Independence Hall. And I had to remind myself that it wasn't designed to look 200 years old... it IS 200 years old.

Despite my rambling, the photographs of the graves are really cool, as well we that photograph of the soldier with the sword.

And the last photograph is amazing! I'm not used to mist being captured that way in photographs. Well, and seeing greenery right now is really nice. Thanks.

Re: Kildalton Kirkyard

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I think #5 looks like it's right out of a movie. It's at the beginning of the movie, behind the opening credits. There's some bouncy music playing, and the locals are going about their business. We're seeing various scenes of local life, to set the stage - environmental shots.