In the West of Scotland, off of the coast
of course, there are many, many islands
and the jumping off point to get to most of these islands
there are many of these islands, is the seaside town of Oban.
Oban is a pretty small place but really cute.
You can see it's harborfront here it's very charming.
Up on the hill, you have the unfinished coliseum
that's called McCaig's Tower
that you can hike up through the neighborhoods
and check out people's gardens
and just get nice sweeping views over the water.
Oban is known as the gateway to the isles
so it's a great little seaside town.
Our tour groups like to stay in B&Bs just
on the esplanade there by the water
so lots of really great B&B options in Oban
and you can just sit out front and enjoy views like this.
It's absolutely a charming town with beautiful views to boot.
Not surprisingly there is a lot of great seafood in Oban.
This is the ferry terminal
but you can see all the little fishing boats there.
Just wander down even
if you're not taking a day trip out
to any of the islands or heading out for longer trips
to any of the islands and see what's been caught fresh.
You don't have to eat a fancy seafood restaurant either to enjoy this.
There are a couple of just small self-walk up
and order and then take your stuff
to a picnic table seafood restaurants right there by the ferry terminal
and you can see that it's a pretty nice looking seafood platter
for a pretty affordable price just to enjoy right there
on the water so I'd highly recommend that.
The most popular and also
probably, most accessible trip out to an island
from Oban is to the Isle of Mull
and to the Isle of Iona. Iona is Scotland's holy Isle.
It is where Christianity came at the end of the sixth century
so the late 500s from Ireland to Scotland.
It's very important from that respect
but it's also just a very peaceful beautiful island.
You can do a day trip.
You have to take the ferry to Mull and then drive across Mull
and then take another ferry to get to Iona.
Being on the ferry is a really enjoyable experience anyway.
It is, first of all, an important part of Scottish life.
For people who live out in the islands, it is a literal lifeline.
It's just a lot of fun to have all that fresh air and usually
there's a pub on the on the boat
if you want to just get a pint and pass the time.
You can absolutely do that.
Sometimes you might even find
a bunch of people playing music
especially in the summer.
People going to and from music festivals
young musicians just having a tune.
It's great.
If you are going just for the day trip to Iona
you probably won't stop in the main town on Mull which is Tobermory.
It's not where the ferry gets in.
You would get off the ferry and then drive north.
If you would like to stay in Mull
and not just do the day trip like most people do
Tobermory is a really nice option.
It has a distillery and as you can see
it's just a really lovely little town by the water.
For most daytrippers or most people who travel out
to Mull who are visiting from abroad drive
across the island which itself is stunning and usually you have it--
If you're not driving yourself, you would be taking a bus
and you might have a narrated guide on the way over.
You might have a guide narrating your trip across Mull
talking about the wildlife and the sea eagles
and all of the really interesting geology
and the sea cliffs and everything like that
so it's just a stunning island with a lot to offer.
You get to the far end and suddenly
it looks like you're in Greece or something
and you have this pink granite and white sand and turquoise water.
Then you hop onboard a little tiny
teeny, tiny ferry for another 10-minute ferry ride
wait patiently, and then this is what you come to.
Again, this is Iona Scotland's holy island.
It is just absolutely stunning especially
when you have a beautiful weather like this.
Can you believe that that's not in the Caribbean, really that water.
The abbey is there. It's not the original Abbey
of course, but it still has a very active church community
and it's ecumenical, it's just they welcome everybody
and you can go and spend some time there
and do retreat or you can just walk through
and check it out and be on your way.
I just find it to be a very very peaceful and wonderful place.
You can stroll through the graveyard where ages
and ages ago many of the kings of Scotland were buried
or the Nunnery ruins.
I enjoy my favorite site in Aiona is the Local Heritage Center.
It's a small museum with a cafe out back
and you just learned about the local history
and they have things on display like all of the different types
of seashells found on the island and all the different types
of rocks from different areas.
It's just a really fun way to learn about
a very particular community in a very particular place in Scotland.
I enjoy checking out all of the little tiny museums
not just in Iona but wherever I happen to be
when you're driving through.
When you're driving through any small town in Scotland
pullover and pop into a bakery and ask
"Hey, is there any small museum or anything happening in this town?"
and just check it out. Get right in there.
If you have a couple of hours check out some of Iona’s beaches
absolutely stunning, white sandy beaches.
The water is not warm but-
[laughter]
-you can you can definitely take off your shoes
and socks and at least just go for a little wade
which in Scotland they would call it a paddle, "Go for a paddle."
I just want to give a quick plug here for the Western isles.
We don't really cover the islands that are further out off of the coast.
In our guidebooks that is we cover Mull and Iona, of course.
If that looks like heaven to you
I would just encourage you to consider going further
to Lewis and Harris, islands of Lewis and Harris.
You might not think you've heard of Harris
but if you've heard of Harris Tweed you've heard of Harris.
North and South Uist
Barra, all of these islands are just not heavily visited at all
and some of them have some
of the most stunning beaches you've ever seen.
Another very popular place to visit in Scotland is the Isle of Skye.
It is an island but you can drive there conveniently.
They have a bridge so you can take
a ferry from one point or you can just drive across
which is really handy. You definitely want to have a car.
You can get there by bus.
The train does not go there
but if you want to be able to get around
it's going to be handy to have a car.
There are also buses that go around the island
but there's not going to be any service on Sunday
and it will be infrequent.
If you want to really get out and explore, just drag yourself.
Skye’s main appeal, of course
is just the stunning scenery and this incredible is just it's unparalleled.
Again, there are many places in Scotland like this
which is unparalleled beauty of scenery.
Famous for its fairy pools and it's just a great place for hiking.
You can do some serious mountaineering
and climbing up some of the taller peaks
or just go for shorter walks on nice easy trails like this.
The main town on Skye is Portree.
That’s the name of it, and I mentioned this in an earlier part of the talk
but if you're going to Skye
again they want to stress, please book your accommodation well ahead of time.
It's very popular and there are not tons of places
to stay anyway so you'll need to book well in advance.
Whether you stay in Portree or whether you go to Skye at all
and you find yourself in another town
in another island or some other part of the Highlands, just ask around.
Go into the pub.
If there's a tourist info office go in.
Go into a bakery.
Ask people you meet on the street
"What's happening in town?"
In the highlands and in the islands a lot of time
especially in the summer, you have local events happening.
Local musical summer camps and things like that.
A couple of the things that you want to be
on the lookout for are, is there any Cèili happening?
A Cèili occasionally means a gathering
but really what it typically is, it is a dance.
Find that local dance.
It doesn't matter if you don't know how.
They will teach you or you don't have to learn
you can just sit and watch
but it is an unparalleled fun experience
that is very unique to Scotland.
I'd encourage you to ask around and try
and seek something like this out.
If you're very lucky you might even encounter
in a pub something like this
which I did once upon a time.
Eight people all playing the great highland bagpipes inside the pub.
What do you think?
[laughter]
Really, really phenomenal
for me, life-changing experience.
It might be a little bit too much for you like some people in the pub
but you're never going to forget that if you happen
to find something like that.
Even if you happen upon something a little bit quieter.
I mentioned Cèili, that's going to be a dancer a gathering.
You can also ask people is there a session happening
and the session would just be people
in a pub most likely playing tunes.
It's not a performance.
It's not a concert.
It's just one or two people who are going to be there
for a particular period of time and whoever else wants
to come and join and play tunes with them will come and join.
It's just live traditional Scottish music and for me
that's one of the best things that Scotland has to offer
so try and seek it out.
Either way, just remember to stop and breathe and take it all
in enjoy all that fresh air
and enjoy all the beautiful breathtaking views and happy travels.
Thank you very much for coming.
[applause]