SCOTLAND
I recently got married, so that's why I haven't made a post in a month or so. We decided to go to Europe and visit several countries for our honeymoon. Furthermore, some of my friends and family have asked for details about the places we traveled to, so I figured this would be an easy way to fill them in on our trip. Our first stop was in Scotland, which depending on who you ask is or is not a country.
Courtesy of onebigphoto.com
DAY 1: EDINBURGH & ST. ANDREWS
When we arrived in Scotland, the first thing we noticed was that it was much colder than the 70 degree temperatures we left back in the States. The weather was around 50 degrees, sunny, but with strong winds. I slept about 45 minutes on the plane and we got into to Scotland around 8:00AM Scottish time, so I felt like it was 3:00AM.
Courtesy of funkeydoos.com
The architecture in the City of Edinburgh though was phenomenal. Most of the architecture in the New City is either Georgian or Victorian, named after the monarchs that ruled during the 18th & 19th Century. Our hotel,The George Hotel, pictured above, is located in a building that was built in 1780s in the heart of the Edinburgh. We were in walking distance of just about every major sight, so that obviously made it a lot easier to see more of the city.
Edinburgh is full of monuments. The monument above is The Scott Monument, a Victorian Gothic monument to Sir Walter Scott, located about 2 blocks from our hotel, and as you can tell it's massive. Officially, it's the largest monument in the world to a writer. Scott was a poet, novelist, and playwright, and is most famous for his works Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, and Waverley, which are national treasures in Scotland.
We were in Scotland for 3 days, and the one thing I definitely wanted to see while we were there was The Old Course St. Andrews. Despite being extremely jet lagged, I was able to convince my wife to go with me on the hour train ride from Edinburgh to St. Andrews. Luckily, my wife loves golf just about as much as I do. Seriously, she sends me reminder emails and text messages to sign up for Masters Tickets, so convincing her to go wasn't too much of a struggle.
The amazing thing about The Old Course, is that you can walk around the Pro Shop and the Hotel, which has some amazing paintings of The Old Course, like it's a local municipal course. We bought some Old Course souvenirs, then headed to a local pub right beside the 17th hole for a drink and some food.
One thing we discovered early on, Scottish people love Whisky (what we call Scotch). They think it's the best thing ever invented. So, while at the Jigger Inn we ordered some 15 year old Balvenie single malt whisky. Now, I'm not normally a big scotch person, but I think that's because the Scots are selling us their bottom of the barrel rotgut bathtub liquor, because this stuff was AMAZING! It was extremely smooth with a hint on vanilla, and tasted like what I imagine angels serve to Scottish warriors who died in battle.
The only thing better than the whisky we had was the view on the way out of the pub. We got a great view of the 18th at St. Andrews as we left the Jigger Inn. Though the weather was cloudy and windy, it was gorgeous and we were both pretty thrilled with how the trip had started.
DAY 2: SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS
On our 2nd day, we took a tour to The Highlands of Scotland. The weather changed constantly on our tour. In the span of 30 minutes we had sunshine, snow, rain, and gale force winds, but the landscape was gorgeous.
We got to see some of the filming locations for the James Bond movie Skyfall, which even in the frigidly cold air and cloudy day was beautiful. We are both huge Bond fans, so to see some of the spots they filmed Skyfall was pretty cool. Along the drive we also passed Doune Castle, which was used for Winterfell in Game of Thrones, and the battlefields of Stirling and Bannockburn.
One of our best views of entire trip was at Glencoe, pictured above. In 1691, William of Orange "offered" all Highland Clans a pardon, due to the participation in the Jacobite Rebellion, if they would swear allegiance to him as the new king before the end of the year. The MacDonald Clan got the message sometime in mid-December, giving them 2 weeks or so to make a pretty important decision. The MacDonald Clan chieftan was late by a few days in taking the oath, though he did take it and evidence showed he tried to take the oath before the end of the year.
Well, King William was apparently a real stickler for punctuality, because he ordered the MacDonald Clan elders to be extirpated or murdered. To make matters even worse the rival Campbell Clan invited the MacDonald Clan into their homes and then slaughtered them in their beds and in the valleys and hillsides of Glencoe after plying them with food and drinks for several days. Now, this might seem like a long time ago, but Scottish people do not forget anything. They remember The Massacre of Glencoe very well, and the MacDonalds still hate the Campbells to this day with a passion. If you ask the Campbell descendants what they think about The Massacre of Glencoe, they simply answer...
Courtesy of pandawhale.com
One of the last sights we got to see on our ride back was the forest commonly known as Birnam Wood, from Shakespeare's Macbeth. The best thing about Birnam Wood, besides it's role in the play, was the history of how it was created. Apparently, the hillside where Birnam Wood sits did not originally grow the types of trees located on the hill. So the ruler of the area at the time, anxious to populate the hill with trees, filled his cannons with seeds of the trees he wanted to grow and fired them at the hill until it was covered with the trees we see today.
DAY 3: EDINBURGH
The last day in Scotland we spent exploring Edinburgh, namely Edinburgh Castle and the area around it. The castle sits on a huge hill overlooking the city and the views both from the city and the top of the castle were spectacular. The walk from our hotel up to the castle took about 15 minutes, but if you visit Edinburgh, the castle is a must see.
Edinburgh Castle houses the Scottish National War Museum, which had a lot of amazing artifacts from Highland dress to weapons used for over a 1,000 years. Standing guard over the castle is the cannon, known as "Mons Meg" in the picture at the top of this post, she continues to protect the City of Edinburgh from attack, likely from the English. The cannon was used for centuries against invaders and the plaque next to the cannon reads, "Defend Mons Meg. She leveled castle walls and terrified the enemies of Scotland's kings. Please treat this grand old lady with some respect."
Inside Edinburgh Castle's Great Hall stands what I'm going to say is probably the best decorated room in the world. Strategically placed ornate guns and swords, multiple fireplaces, and medieval armor line the entire room; it was magnificent.
Just outside Edinburgh Castle is The Scotch Whisky Experience, where for about $15-20 you can learn how whisky is made and get to sample some whisky from each of Scotland's four regions. You finish the tour by viewing the largest private whisky collection in the world, which needless to say is impressive. Lastly, we finished up by visiting the restaurant downstairs and trying out some more of Scotland's finest.
This comes from one of the highest whisky distillery in the Scotland, based on elevation. We passed by it on our ride through The Highlands, and heard good things so we tried a glass and were not disappointed.
Even with the beautiful scenery, bloody history, and unpredictable weather, the best thing about Scotland are the Scots themselves. The people of Scotland are some of the most friendly, laid back, genuine people you will ever meet. Everyone we met could not have been more courteous and kind. If you ever have the chance, I highly recommend visiting Scotland...just make sure you bring a rain jacket and some warm clothes.
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