Tobermory, Scotland a colourful jewel in the Isle of Mull.

Tobermory (Gaelic: Tobar Mhoire) is the only town on the Isle of Mull, one of the Scottish Inner Hebrides.

It is located in the northeastern part of the island, near the northern entrance of the Sound of Mull, and is the starting port to visit Staffa and Iona.

The pier divides Tobermory Bay in two, as well as the waterfront houses on Main Stret.

Tobermory was founded as a fishing port in 1788; its location, landscape and unique seafront deserve to be highlighted here at Ultima Thule. 

Population ~ 700  (up to 1500 in summer)

Coordinates: 56° N, 06° W 

Brightly painted buildings line up along the main street to the pier, backed by tree-lined hills surrounding the bay.

Also on main street by the harbour pier, the Clock Tower from 1905 is now the town's symbol.

The waterfront Main Street is the most animated shopping area. For such a small town, Tobermory's economy has benefited a lot from tourism.

The Main Street runs by the bay to the Caledonian Macbrayne ferry pier. Back and upwords, Argyll Terrace is the historic Victorian street.

Tobermory owes its origins to the British Fisheries Society and their search for likely sites for fishing communities in western Scotland in the 1700s. A distillery was later founded there as Ledaig distillery, in 1798

 

Downtown, on the seafront, mirrored in the waters are little shops, restaurants, guest houses and even a local museum.

Some of the best historic houses by the pier, like the Clydesdale Bank and the Museum (right).

Tackle and Books

http://www.tackleandbooks.co.uk/

Not many bookshops have such a pretty front facing a bay's calm waters.

Books, computer and officeware, as well as artist material for painting.

Guest houses on Main Street.

The Tobermory Hotel.

Blue, red and pink are the most frequent colours in the waterfront.

The Museum

Run by volunteers, it is quite small but well documented on Mull's History.

http://www.mullmuseum.org.uk/links.html

Seafare: waterproof clothing, diving and fishing equipment, some gifts too.

The central bakery, now also a tea room.

A long time favourite.

MacGochans Pub, the most well-known.

Uptown Tobermory has less shops but the best views. Back Brae and them Argyll Terrace are also first choice residential areas.

From Back Brae, the roof chimneys and the bay:

Argyll Terrace, away from downtown bustle, is quiet and full of character.

A B&B on Argyll Terrace.


The Paris Church

Also located on Argyll Terrace, on upper Tobermory, the Parish Church (Church of Scotland) is a Victorian gothic-style building, opened in 1897.

Music concerts are frequently held at the church, under the rose window.

An Tobar

On a corner of Argyll Terrace, close to the Church, An Tobar is one of the main attractions in Tobermory.

Opened in 1997, An Tobar is Mull’s Arts Centre, a focus for arts activities on the island. An art gallery (the only one in Argyll), a small concert hall, cafe, shop and workshop area.

An Tobar is installed in the refurbished Victorian primary school.

An Tobar has a cycle of concerts at the Church during the annual Mendelssohn festival.

http://mendelssohnonmull.com/project/an-tobar

With a terrace overlooking the splendour of Tobermory bay, An Tobar is always worth a visit.

The harbour

Tobermory's little harbour is always busy with fishing boats and yachts.

Other visitors are the ferry to and from Kilchoan and some cruise ship in Summer.

The ferry at the "Cal Mac" pier.

The Waverley, a steamer from Glasgow - the last steam ship to take passengers - is a summer visitor to Tobermory.

Arvo Pärt, Passacaglia

Arvo Pärt is undoubtfully the greatest composer of our times. He was born is Estonia, in 1935, and works mainly on sacred classical music, in a minimalist style.

Somehow I find him adequated to our purposes here at Ultima Thule: the music of Pärt talks of remoteness and distance, isolation and meditation, but also of discovery and new horizons.

This short Passacaglia is one of his most brilliant musical works; dissonations in a crescendo rythm, like in a breathless ride, away from or to reach something, leave a final feeling of fulfillment.

Inuit Arts,a short presentation

I´m not, of course, an art expert, nor am I someone who deeply studied the Inuit native peoples of Alaska, Arctic Canada or Greenland.

I just collected some of the arts and craft examples I love the most - and my eyes are those of an European, biased by western culture. That said, enjoy and I hope it can motivate to research for more.

Note that some of the works are from unknown authors.

Inuit Arts, from Mario Ricca

Nightmute, Alaska - isolation and poverty on the wet tundra.

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is a natural wilderness area in western Alaska's coast by the Bering Sea.

Nightmute (Negtemiut in Yup'ik) is a village north of the Kuskokwim Delta, on Nelson Island, and on the banks of the Ninglick river - a canal in fact, between the island and mainland. This is tundra territory, patched by several winding arms of water and lakes.

Coordinates: 60° 29' N, 164° 49' W
Population: ~ 280

The nearest settlement is Chefornak, to the south, and it's already been on a post at U.T. here.

There are no practicable roads. Nightmute can be reached by snowmobile or Bush flying, and in summer by boat along the rivers and canals.

The main buildings in town - the School, the Community Center.

Housing for teachers.

The village has no streets - the wet terrain doesn't allow. The houses are connected by wooden boardwalks.

Most residents are Yup'ik natives, living a traditional subsistence lifestyle of hunting, fishing, and gathering. Fishing for salmon and whitefish provides a staple of the Yup'ik diet along the river.

There is a community center, health clinic and most important of all there is a school, the center of local life.

As other native american communities, Yup'ik eskimos are skilled at making refined grass baskets:

These are at the local Elitnaurviat School's exhibition.

This was made by Theresa George.

Yup'ik artist Jane Wiseman was born in Nelson Island.

The Community Service Center, where most cultural life and leisure takes place.

Poetry reading by the moon at Elitnaurviat school.


The Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta National Wildlife Refuge

The Wildlife Refuge is located where the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers empty into the Bering Sea on the west coast of Alaska.

Nightmute, by the Ningaluk (Ningliq) river, is surrounded by water canals and puddles.

This is one of the largest deltas in the world, larger than the Mississippi Delta. Consisting mostly of tundra, the area is protected as part of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

Kuskokwim Delta.

The river's name comes from the Yup'ik kusquqviim, recorded by a Russian sailor in 1826. The principal economic activities along the river have historically been fur trapping and fishing.

Besides the tundra vegetation, the Refuge is home to foxes, bears, salmon-family fish and many bird species:

Cackling Goose

Bristle-thighed curlew

Red fox


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Nightmute is, alas, a poorly developed settlement. It's sad to say but it's true: the U.S. doesn't care and protect its native peoples as Canada does; the Nunavut and Northwest Territories native settlements benefit largely more from civilization´s comfort than their Alaskan counterparts.