Coming as a stranger, going as a friend is a sentence you can read in many books, but I’ve experienced it on Islay during these cold winter days at the changing of the year from December ’02 to January ’03.

So it hasn’t been unusual that I visited Islay again in summer ’03. I didn’t come alone because I’ve infected my friends Monika and Günter with Islay fever, too. We don’t only meet our good friends Ray and his family, Ray’s friends Margaret and Richard welcome us and organized nice meetings too.

We visit a nice island. Islay is a very nice place for regeneration. You can find silence and peaceful places, you can have long walks in nice wild nature and when you are tired you can stop an Islay coach wherever you are, but don’t forget to put the bus timetable in your pocket. There is no need to miss anything necessary on Islay.

You’re not a stranger on Islay you’re a visitor, so it is easy to get in contact to people in buses, pubs …

And visiting the Islay Whisky Trail means more than tasting this world famous Malt Whisky, you will get lots of information about Islay history and stories.

And look at this sunset, isn’t it a nice place for swimming in the mighty Atlantic. So it is sure, I will visit Islay again. And it’s not a one-way- street, we all have visited each other in Las Vegas, Bowmore, and Cologne since these cold winter days in December 02, when we found real friendship.