Isles Of Scilly

The subtropical, lush gardens and the wave-lashed, rugged cliffs are but two of the many and diverse faces of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago just 50 kilometres off the southwest tip of England at the mouth of the English Channel. Hundreds of ships from the four corners of the globe have met their doom on these islands, so suddenly do they rise from the Atlantic. In the hauntingly beautiful island graveyard, graves remind us of the loss of the Schiller in 1875, one of the worst catastrophes in the history of passenger sea travel. Nowadays, the numerous wrecks entice modern treasure-seekers here. Most of the 100,000 visitors who come here every year, however, come predominantly for the famed "Abbey Gardens", a park of lush, subtropical vegetation surrounding an old abbey. They come also for the other scenic attractions offered by St. Mary's, St. Agnes, St. Martin's, Bryher, Tresco and the many other small, uninhabited islands. These include bizarre granite formations, turquoise-blue waters edged with white sand banks, rare sea birds, seals, Celtic monuments and idyllic Bronze Age settlements, traditional houses, pubs and of course the innumerable rocky reefs that encircle the Isles of Scilly. And let us not forget Bishop Rock, on which the eponymous lighthouse, the largest in Great Britain, stands watch over this gateway to Europe.

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