Oban Harbour, Scotland - a beautiful town on the West Coast surrounded by mountains and islands

I used to live near the town of Oban up on the West Coast of Scotland. Although not from Oban originally, I've always loved the place, so much so that we actually moved and spent 8 years living there.

The harbour there is stunning. Its quite a busy port as many of the ferries to the islands leave from Oban, it also gets tourist boats, yachts and a few fishing boats.

The 'colosseum' up on the hill is actually a folly built in the 19th century to help provide employment to some of the locals. Its called McCaig's Tower - and is quite a famous feature in the town.

The harbour really comes into its own at sunset, dusk and night, as can be seen by some of the pics above.

A few years back the town bought some lights to hang up around the harbour, and at night they give of these lovely coloured reflections in the water - it is just stunning !

I took the picture above one evening just after a tall ship had docked next to the red roofed building (a pizza restaurant !). You can see the masts in the sunset !

The picture above looks out towards the main waterway entrance to Oban. The Island of Kerrera is on the left (its close to Oban) and the island of Lismore can be seen further out.

The picture above looks down over the harbour from McCaig's Tower, giving a lovely vantage point. You can see its quite a natural place of shelter, just by the layout of the land and the island of Kerrera.

Above is another view from the Tower. Kerrera is the island you can see closest to the town. Then the Isle of Mull is in the background on the left, the Isle of Lismore is the lighter one sticking out on the right, and then the darker land behind it is actually Scottish mainland again (Morvern).

The town and harbour really are stunning, and attracts quite a lot of tourists and island hoppers accordingly. If you are ever in that part of the world, I'd strongly recommend it !!!