Scotland Day 5

Kim: Today we left Isle of Skye to head Edinburgh.  We stopped first at Eilean Donan castle, the long-time home and residence of the McRae clan (and set of the movie Highlander).

Next we stopped at the small town of Fort Augustus, situated on the Caledonian Canal.  The canal links many of the lakes throughout Scotland, and to Brian’s excitement, one of the lakes next to Fort Augustus is Loch Ness.  He eagerly peered across the lake in search of Nessie and I had to tear him away.

Brian:  I had a brief moment of excitement when I noticed a few humps surface from the water, but after some digital enhancements of the photograph, it was clear I had not seen Nessie -

Kim: We then drove down through the Highlands, stopping at Dalwhinnie, home to Scotland’s highest whisky distillery, and the town of Pitlochry.

Here’s a picture of us with our guide Richard.

When we arrived in Edinburgh, we quickly found our B&B and then headed out for dinner.  This must have been Brian’s lucky day, because we found a Mexican restaurant right around the corner on Thistle St.  I was a little apprehensive at first because we were the only people in the place, but it quickly filled up and it turned out to be pretty good.  

Scotland - Day 4 (Isle of Skye)

Brian: We spent today visiting Isle of Skye. It was on and off rain and fog for most of the day, and the temperature changed dramatically depending on our altitude and proximity to the water, but we did have moments of clear skies and sunshine.

In the morning, we traveled north of Portree to Trotternish Ridge. The pictures below show some of the scenery.

Kim with sheep:

The Old Man of Storr (covered in fog):



Kilt Rock (a rock that looks like a kilt):

This is where we took a road over/between the high mountains in the middle of the island (mountain pass of Quiraing). It was a bit windy:

We ate lunch back in Portree, then headed to the west side of the island in the afternoon. We made a stop at a the Talisker distillary.

Kim and I did the free tasting they had. I prefered this scotch whisky to the previous whisky we had tried because it had a smokier flavor. Whisky from the Island region of Scotland tends to have a smokier flavor due to the extra use of peat when drying out the barley.

After Talisker, we made our way over to the most westerly point on the island, Neist Point. This sheep below is taking in the amazing view.

In the evening, we ate a traditional Scottish meal, featuring... Haggis! For those who don't know, Haggis is basically all of the parts of the sheep that aren't used normally in food... heart, lungs, brain, kidney, liver... you get the picture. It was actually very tasty, though I don't think we will be itching to order it every meal.

After dinner, we decided to join the locals at one of the bars in Portree to watch the big football match - Scotland vs. Lithuania. We also got to try out some of the local Isle of Skye Ales. The highlight was listening to the father next to us telling his two children (probably under 8 years old) to try not to curse too much during the match (that's Scotland for you). And for those who care, Scotland ended up winning 1 - 0, keeping their Euro Cup 2012 dreams alive!

Other notes:

• One more Braveheart inaccuracy: All of the warriors in Braveheart are wearing kilts. However, kilts weren't first worn in Scotland until around 1500, which is almost 200 years after Braveheart took place.




• We still haven't been successful in taking a decent picture of the elusive highland cow (or as we like to call them, "emo" cow. We've seen plenty of them, but we can never get the camera out in time to snap the photo. Maybe tomorrow we'll have better luck!
  



• So I've been eating black pudding almost every day (very tasty), and now Kim decides to inform me what it really is. It's blood sausage, meaning it's dried and congealed blood covering some filler, like oats. Well... it's definitely less appealing to me now, but I suppose I would still eat it (been eating it up until now without a problem).
  

Day 3 - The Highlands

Today we embarked on our 3-day tour of the Scottish Highlands with Rabbie's Trailburners.

Our guide, Richard, filled us in with bits of Scottish history and fun facts along the way. Our first stop was in the small town of Callender, where we stopped to get a wee bite (everything is "wee" in Scotland). Brian and I indulged in our first scones - yum. Then we quickly crossed into the Highlands, where beautiful scenery abounds. We stopped at many lochs (lakes) along the way. Below are some pictures from Loch Lubnaig and Loch Earn and the surrounding area.

Along the way, we saw a rainbow - but not just any rainbow, a double rainbow!  And believe it or not, this was Brian's second double-rainbow sighting in a week (he had seen one in Sopot, Poland as well).  He was pretty excited, but not as excited as this guy - www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

Sopot, Poland

Our next stop was Glencoe. Glencoe is home to three ridges nicknamed The Three Sisters. This valley was also the scene of a great massacre in the late 1600’s, where many of the Clan Macdonald were slaughtered by the Clan Campbell. The Campbells (Protestant) were basically mercenaries hired by the English government to kill and make an example of the MacDonald Clan (Catholic) for being late to sign an oath of allegiance to the English government. The Burns Clan may be related to the Campbell Clan, but this is still debated.

  

We stopped in Fort William for a wee bit of lunch, and then headed for Isle of Skye via a few more lochs. Only recently have they opened a bridge to the Isle of Skye; previously the only way over was a ferry. Isle of Skye is known for it's rugged landscape, a product of heavy volcanic and glacial activity.  The main mountain range on the island is the Cuillens, and it is made of red and black granite.  Richard dropped us off in the little harbor town of Portree, where we found our B&B and then headed out for a great dinner of local seafood and sticky toffee pudding.

Fort William

The Cuillens

 

Portree, Isle of Skye

Scotland Day 2

Today, we focused on a piece of Scottish history near and dear to my heart: Stirling Castle and William Wallace (aka Braveheart). Those of you who know me well know that Braveheart is my favorite movie, so I was pretty giddy all morning. Before hoping on the bus, we filled up with a hearty, traditional Scottish breakfast at Weatherspoon’s Free House, where we got to try black pudding for the first time (very tasty).

When we arrived at Stirling, we walked through the town, then hiked up the steep hill to the castle.

Outside, we happened on the statue of Robert the Bruce.

The cashier offered us audio tours, which we reluctantly accepted. However, we quickly ditched them when we saw a real guide starting a free tour inside the castle. The castle has such amazing history. It has changed hands numerous times and was home to many of Scotland’s kings and queens such as James IV and Mary Queen of Scots.

The tour lasted about an hour, and by the end I was ready for the main event: The Wallace Monument.

The Wallace Monument was not as close to the castle as we had hoped (~2 miles) and we didn’t have much time left, so we took a quick cab ride over. To get to the top of the monument, you have to traverse 246 steps. There are galleries along the way, one of which housed Wallace’s actual battle sword.

I learned that the movie Braveheart is not very accurate to the actual history. For one, Mel Gibson is only 5' 9", but historians put William Wallace at around 6' 6", since it would've taken someone of that size to wield a sword that large.

Another gallery housed Scotland’s Heroes. In my ongoing quest to determine whether or not I am really a descendent of Robert Burns, I posed in front of my apparent ancestor. Spitting image, eh?

Once we reached the top, we got amazing views of Scotland. The picture below shows the green where the actual Battle of Stirling Bridge took place (those of you who have seen Braveheart may recognize it).

The Battle of Stirling Bridge didn't really happen the way it was portrayed in Braveheart. Wallace was indeed outnumbered and the Scots did win handily, but it wasn't an open-field battle with a cavalry charge. Instead, the English tried to cross the Stirling bridge 3 or 4 horse/men at a time. Once almost half of the English had made it across, Wallace gave the order (from the hill where the Wallace Monument stands) to attack the half that had crossed. They slaughtered the English, and all the other half could do was watch (this half finally fled).

After returning from Stirling, we made our way over to my Uncle Irwin’s old stomping grounds, The University of Glasgow. Uncle Irwin grew up in Scotland and got his medical degree here (he now lives in Boston).

After walking the grounds, we leisurely strolled around the surrounding area, walked through a few neighborhoods, and eventually made it back to the center of Glasgow. We ate a hearty dinner at The Counting House in George Square, then retired back to our hotel.