The Armin Grewe Homepage
Picture of a ferry terminal early in the morningThis year saw me returning to Islay for the second time, making it my third visit. As usual I left very early in the morning: The ferry from Kennacraig (right) left at 7:15am, meaning latest check in at 6:45am. And as usual it rained when I arrived in Port Ellen (far right). So what did I do? Set of to the distilleries of Laphroaig and Bowmore... A few impressions below with Laphroaig on the left and Bowmore on the right. Picture of a ferry terminal in the rain
Picture of whisky stills at Laphroaig distillery Picture of a whisky safe at Bowmore distillery
Picture of the Port Charlotte Hotel As during my previous visits I stayed at the Port Charlotte Hotel. It is a lovely small hotel and from my room (Nr.7 if you're interested) I could look out to the sea over to The Oa as well as hearing the waves when I woke up in the morning. The food was excellent, during my stay I had the opportunity to participate in a lamb dinner where the price winning lamb of this years show was served. I'd like to use the opportunity to thank everybody at the Port Charlotte Hotel for the excellent time I had staying there. I hope I'll see you again next year!

I also visited Donald Fletcher and his family from Persabus Cottage, they enjoy a magnificent view over the Sound of Islay to the Paps of Jura.

So what else did I do on Islay? Quite a lot.

I did some hillwalking, visited several beaches and cliffs, learned more about the history of Islay and also did some shopping. The pictures below will give you some impressions. On the right I'm on a cliff close to Sanaigmore Bay.

Due to strong winds from the west the waves were fairly high, allowing me to take some nice pictures. Look on the right as well as scroll down to see some of them.

Unfortunately the visitors centre at Finlaggan was closed, but I still got a good impression of the site. Finlaggan was the home of the MacDonald chiefs from the 12th to the 16th century. The Museum of Islay life was very interesting as well, you can find more details in the Isle of Islay section of my website

For the shopping I visited the Islay Woollen Mill (where the Tartan for Braveheart was woven), Persabus pottery as well as Elizabeth Sykes Batiks.

Picture of Armin standing on a cliff, more cliffs and the sea behind it
Picture of a street going up a hill from a pier, a round church at the top
The main street in Bowmore with the round church on the top
Picture of a view over a sound with two hills on the other side
The Paps of Jura seen over the Sound of Islay
Picture of partly overgrown ruins of very old houses
Finlaggan with the Paps of Jura in the background
Picture of Armin standing on a beach in a bay, arms stretched out
Me on the beach of Machir Bay
Picture of a wave crashing over rocks
The wave is coming in...
Picture of kids in waterproofs on rocks at the sea
...and this is what it caused. Some very wet children.

This page only gives a quick impression of my visit to Islay, for more details why not visit the Isle of Islay section of my website?

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