Cradle of Scottish Christianity on holy isle.
St Columba, an Irish monk, landed on Iona in 563 with twelve companions and founded a monastery that became a base for spreading Christianity across Scotland. The abbey standing today, St Mary’s Abbey, is a 13th-century rebuilding on Columba’s original site, still used for worship, with the Iona Community based there; nearby, the ruins of an Augustinian nunnery from the same era are among the most complete to survive in Scotland. In the old burial ground, Reilig Odhráin, kings of Scotland, Ireland and Norway are said to be buried, though modern scholars doubt the claim; MacLean’s Cross, a carved stone cross from the 1400s, stands on the road up from the jetty.
The passenger ferry from Fionnphort on Mull takes about ten minutes, and visitors can’t bring cars. Around 170 people live here, most in Baile Mòr, the village by the abbey, and the whole island, with white sand beaches and clear water round the shore, is easily walked in a day.
