After a long flight, we make it to Edinburgh mid-afternoon. True to it's reputation, it is rainy and grey. As we walk our way to the hotel, it starts down pouring. My shoes and luggage are soaked and after a little coaxing, I convince Joe to get us a cab. We change out of our soaked clothes, freshen up and brace ourselves for the rain by putting on our rain gear. As we step out of our hotel, we are welcomed with bright sunshine. That would last for most of our trip. As we were told time and time again by the locals, we were lucky because it is not typical for it to be sunny and 20 degrees Celsius in Scotland in September!
First on our agenda was, of course, a beer bar. We went to Brewdog for a pint and then made our way to Edinburgh Castle. It was about 4:30 and as we learned, most shops and attractions close by 5. Only pubs and restaurants stay open later than that! We didn't want to have to rush through the castle so we decided to come back the next day. We decided to walk the Royal Mile (main drag of shops, restaurants and pubs), stop at a pub for a pint and look for a place to eat. We read about World's End in the guidebooks and decided to stop there. I had the fish and chips (an entire fish, deep fried) and Joe had the haggis with neeps and tatties. If you don't know what haggis is, you don't want to know. Although I knew it wasn't the most pleasant sounding thing in the world (or looking for that matter) I tried it and it was actually really good. It tasted somewhat like corned beef. Neeps are mashed (pureed) turnips and tatties are mashed potatoes.
After dinner, jet lag was seriously setting in with me so I convinced Joe to go back to the hotel and take a quick nap. After our nap, we went to a quaint little bar called Cloister bar. There we had another pint. (Yes, for those of you keeping score, that is four pints on the day. Please don't keep track, it will get ugly.) After Cloister, we went to bed. It was a long and exciting day.
We woke up early and got breakfast at the Elephant House which is near the Edinburgh Castle. This place is made famous by the writers who frequent the place and write novels there. You may have heard of one of them, a J.K. Rowling? Then we were off to the castle. It was a sunny day, yet pretty windy, especially high on the hill of the castle. The castle is actually built on an extinct volcano. We joined a tour group and made our way through. After touring the castle, we realized we were in time to see the one o'clock gun. This is the firing of a canon that sets the time so the ships in the harbor can set their clocks. They do it at 1:00 instead of 12:00 because they only have to use one shell instead of using 12. Cheap, yet smart.
After that, our stomachs were telling us it was time to eat. We ate at a bar we had seen on our bible of travel - Three Sheets. (If you ever travel, you must watch two things: Rick Steves and Three Sheets. Their recommendations will never, ever fail.) Whisky is a bar on the Royal Mile. I had a steak sandwich with chips and a small salad. Joe had mussels in a garlicky cream sauce. That provided us enough sustenance to walk to Holyrood House. This is the palace the Queen stays at when she is in Scotland. Basically, it's her summer "cottage." This was one of my favorite places we visited. Inside we saw the royal dining room, the grand room with paintings of past kings, queens, princes, dukes, lords, etc. Upstairs was the room where Mary Queen of Scots ate and slept. It is also where her husband murdered her close confident in a jealous rage. There is a place in the corner where the wood floorboards are still stained with blood. At then end of the tour, we went outside into the ruined Holyrood Abbey. Once the most impressive and grand monasteries in Scotland, it now is a quiet and reflective place. The arches, bricks and memorial stones connect with the sky in this peaceful place.
After Holyrood, we decided to climb Arthur's Seat. This is a large stone cliff that overlooks the city. We took a very steep climb to what we thought was the top of the hill, but were stopped by a gate that said due to falling rocks, the rest of the hill was closed. That is comforting. The whole way down I didn't know what side to cling to most. The side with the steep cliff that would hurl me to my death or the rock side with the rocks that would pummel me. Clearly I am not a hiker. It was beautiful though at the "top." Actually I found it harder to climb down then to climb up.
After that climbing, we decided to be gluttons for punishment and climb some more big hills. (No one ever tells you how hilly Scotland is. Honestly, they should warn you in the guidebooks to do your squats and calisthenics before going to Scotland. On a related note, I now have thighs and calves of steel.) All day we had been looking at Calton Hill - this is a hill with monuments that stand out on the Edinburgh skyline. Calton Hill had some of the best views of Edinburgh. On the hill are the National Monument (a tribute to fallen soldiers, this was supposed to be a replica of the Parthenon - however the project ran out of money. For years, it was an embarrassment to Edinburgh, it's now starting to become more beloved), an observatory, an obelisk memorial to political martyrs, and several other monuments to Scottish figures. It is a tranquil place to sit back and observe such a beautiful city below.
Climbing makes you thirsty. We decided that it was definitely time to get a pint. We went to the Guildford Arms - a renowned pub - for a pint of cask ale (Real ales they call them. Joe desperately missed his microbrews on this trip.) While at the pub, we planned out our agenda for the night. Back to the hotel to freshen up and off to dinner. We decided on Creeler's. This was an excellent, quaint restaurant. I had the venison tagliatelle and a red wine (not very Scottish, I know. But you can only have so many cask ales before wine starts sounding good.) I loved this cozy little restaurant. We did a little walking through the streets of Edinburgh at night, bought some beer and wine at a shop and brought it back to the hotel. We had to pack up our stuff and get ready to be on our way - there was more of Scotland for us to explore.
Friday, September 23
We woke up early and tried to fit in a few more things before we were to pick up our rental car. Unfortunately I woke up not feeling that great. We had breakfast at a small cafe in Grassmarket and went to the National Museum of Scotland. It was a good museum, unfortunately I wasn't feeling the best. After we picked up our rental car, it was time for Joe to drive on the wrong side of the road and make our way to St. Andrews. I'm not sure which is worse, being the driver or the passenger on the wrong side of the road. I tried very hard to keep my mouth shut and not screech and gasp every time I felt that we were going off the side of the road. Luckily the way to St. Andrew's was mostly highway so I adjusted quickly. Joe did a very good job of driving. Thank goodness for Garmin or we would probably still be somewhere in the Scottish countryside.
We checked into our quaint B&B which happened to be right next to St. Andrew's golf course. This is a famous golf course and a major event in the PGA. Joe wanted desperately to golf the course, but as we had read and been told, the odds of getting on were pretty slim. Joe would have to wake up very early in the morning and stand in a line and hope that there would be a party of three that would need a fourth to golf with them.
First thing we did after checking in was walk down to the course and look around. It was a cloudy day, but pretty warm and quite windy. We walked down the path through the old course, saw the beach where Chariots of Fire was filmed (on the right side is the beach, the left side is the course) and decided it was time for lunch. We went to a pub near the course for a pint and Joe checked out the "ballot" that showed the openings for golf the next day. He was told it didn't look too promising. After lunch we checked out a couple of shops and Joe again asked his odds for golf the next day. He was told he probably should just forget about it. We walked back down and played a round of mini golf (I beat Joe on the 18th!) I convinced Joe to not listen to what they say, we came this far, he might as well try!
That night we went to dinner at a cute pub. Unfortunately, I still was not feeling well. I had a pop and a chicken salad and Joe had a pint and fish and chips. We walked the main drag and went home. I fell asleep probably at 8:30. Not sure if it was jet lag or a bug but I was not feeling well at all. Such a shame because St. Andrew's was a cute town and that was a fun pub! It's definitely a college town as there were students out in the streets until all hours of the morning. It was good for Joe though that we made it an early night. He woke up at 3:30 am to stand in line to try to golf.
Saturday, September 24
Since we didn't have working cell phones, I had no way of knowing if Joe was going to make it in or not. We had to be out of the B&B by 10. So the plan was, I would sleep in and check out for us, and whatever I did I would leave a note on the windshield of the car so we could find each other. I half expected Joe to come back in before I woke up, but once my alarm went off and he was not there, I figured he must be holding out until the end or he got on. I knew the earliest he would have finished would have been 12, but if he didn't get on right away, he might not have been finished until 5! He ended up being the 6th person in line of about 35 people. Too bad for him it was cold and rainy that morning but he held out anyway.
In the mean time, I decided to get breakfast and tour St. Andrew's Castle. It was an absolute gorgeous day and luckily, I was feeling much better. I walked through the campus of St. Andrew's University (the place where Wills met Kate...unfortunately they were not visiting their Alma mater on that lovely Saturday morning.) The castle museum was kind of a disappointment. And the castle itself was basically a bunch of ruins. But since the sun was shining so beautifully and the castle was overlooking a gorgeous bay, it was a great way to spend a peaceful Saturday morning. After that, I went into the main drag and got some breakfast at a coffee house. Scones with jam and cream - I will have to make a tradition of making these each weekend, they are so delicious. I walked into a few shops and realized it was a little after 11.
I wanted to see if I could watch Joe play. I made my way to the course and tried to look for a man in khakis and a red wind breaker. I thought I saw him, so I walked a ways and realized it wasn't him. I went to the starter shed and asked if someone could tell me what group Joe was in. He looked at his paper and said, actually that is his group walking onto 18 just now! Go over and cheer him on! So I made it just in time to take pictures of him finishing his excellent round of golf ! (He shot an 85, I guess that is good.)
It was kind of hard to top such an experience for Joe, but we were on to one of the parts of the trip I was most excited about: the Highlands. Edinburgh is great, but the Highlands I think are the essence of Scotland. It's hard to put into words just how peaceful, serene, beautiful and majestic the hills of the Highlands are. Driving through you are surrounded by magnificent green hills and rocky cliffs and green pastures. Our trip from St. Andrews to Inverness was supposed to be about 3 hours, of course everywhere you look you see a picture perfect postcard and you have to stop off the side of the road to get a picture.
We made it to Inverness late in the afternoon and checked into our hotel room which overlooked Loch Ness. We decided to go into downtown Inverness and get some dinner. Inverness is the "capital" of the Highlands. It has lots of shops (all of which had closed because it was after 5) and restaurants. We stopped into a hotel restaurant for dinner where we sat next to an English couple who were very friendly. Joe had the haggis. I had a steak pie which is basically beef pot pie with a very crispy puff pastry top. It was divine. We didn't see a lot of pubs in Inverness so we made our way back to our hotel and had some drinks at the hotel bar. It was a happening place! There was a charming two man band with bagpipes and guitar who played authentic Scottish music. I had two Pimm's Cups, my new favorite cocktail and Joe had a couple drams (shots) of whisky. It was a lovely Scottish evening.
Sunday, September 25
We woke up early (again) and planned on hitting all the Highland sights. First stop was Urquhart Castle. This is more of ruins of a castle than a real castle, similar to St. Andrew's Castle. It sits on Loch Ness and the location is breathtaking. It is surrounded by rolling hills, blue water, green grass...just breathtaking. I can see why long ago they decided to build a castle there. After Urquhart, we did a little tour just for me. One of the reasons, ok the main reason, we decided to come to Scotland was because I read a series of novels called Outlander. If you have not read these books, you need to. It describes what life was like in Scotland in the 1700s and the author can describe the beauty of the Highlands much better than I could ever attempt to.
The next stop was to the Culloden Battlefield. This was a major part of the books and was actually a very interesting museum. The museum sets up the story of the battle of the Rising of 1745. It gives you two sides of the story, the government side (English) and the Jacobite side (Scottish). After you tour the museum, it ends at doors that take you to the actual site of the battle. At the far, far end of the field you see a line of blue flags. That is where the Jacobites stood. About half way across you see a line of red flags, that is where the government army stood. It was a bloody and costly battle for the Scottish. They lost and Scotland was changed forever. There are many stones that represent the clans (families) that lost men there. It was a very somber reminder of the cost of war.
After Culloden, we went to another stop that was due in part to these books. Clava Cairns is basically a spot where prehistoric stone circles stand to this day. They were sort of burial places in the prehistoric ages. (In the book, the main character time travels to 1745 Scotland after touching one of these kind of stones.) Even without having read the book, these cairns were something to be seen. It's hard to wrap your head around just how old these stones are and how amazing it is that they still stand to this day. That is just something you won't find here in the U.S.
After all this novel sight seeing, Joe deserved a wee dram of whisky. We started driving through the countryside in search for the whisky tour. But first we needed lunch. Garmin was a Godsend for us because as I mentioned, we would have been literally lost without it, but sometimes Garmin has a way of taking you on some crazy routes. This time, it wanted to take us through all back roads. In hindsight, this was good because we were able to see some amazing country views that we wouldn't have seen from the highway, but country roads are one lane - for both lanes of traffic, which means you often come head on with other cars going in the opposite direction. Roads are narrow and windy and ...scary. Beautiful, but scary.
We stopped on one of these back country roads and found a quaint pub called the Cawdor Inn. This is near the Cawdor Castle which was in the play Macbeth. (We drove up to the castle, but decided against going in. The admission was kind of steep and after having seen so many castles, we decided missing one wasn't going to hurt.) We each had (surprise) a pint and potato and leek soup and a ham sandwich with Scottish cheddar. My mouth is watering thinking of that cheddar and that soup, it was absolutely delicious. Look for a future post regarding potato leek soup...
We endured a couple more hours of country road driving and finally found the whisky distillery Glenfiddich. This was a great tour of the distillery which ended in three drams (shots) of different aged whiskies. The most outstanding thing about this distillery though was not the actual facility, but what happened in the parking lot. Joe and I got there just in time for the last tour. We put in our names and had a few minutes to kill. So we went back to the car and checked our phones and sat for a couple of minutes. It was a little warm so I left my door open. I decided to get out of the car and walk around since the place was so picturesque. Joe stayed in the car. A couple minutes later, he came up to me and said it was time to go. So off we went. 45 minutes later when the tour was over, we go back to the car and see the door wide open. Oops! Inside was my phone, my camera and the Garmin. That everything was still inside and untouched is a testament to how safe and quaint the Scottish Highlands are!
After the tour, we went in search of a pub that we saw on Three Sheets that had one of the largest whisky collections in Europe. Quaich was a small, quaint pub that had 750 bottles of single malt whisky. We met a man there who worked at the Aberlour distillery and talked to him for quite a while. He actually was on the episode of Three Sheets that brought us there!
Time for dinner. We went back into Inverness and ate at, again, a quaint and cozy pub. I had a glass of wine and lamb casserole, basically lamb pot pie, and Joe had a pint and a venison burger. It was a long day and we decided to make it an early night.
Monday, September 26
We woke up and had a "Scottish" breakfast. This consisted of eggs, bacon (more like Canadian bacon) toast, your choice of haggis or black pudding (not sure what it is but it tasted like hush puppies) and tea. I'm not a big tea drinker but this was really good. It was a mild breakfast tea and they served it with milk and sugar cubes. I might have to make my weekend breakfasts with tea from now on. After a quick picture with Nessie (our hotel was kind of a tourist trap of Nessie souvenirs) we were off to the Isle of Skye.
The drive from Inverness to Skye was the most beautiful and scenic drives I have ever seen in my life. The Highlands have beautiful green hills, but the hills of Skye are more mountainous and majestic. Waterfalls and rainbows are everywhere. The drive was supposed to be a couple of hours but it was much longer for us. Every mile it seemed like we stopped to take pictures. Everything looked like a postcard. Just before we reached the island, a beautiful castle came into view.
Eileen Donan Castle is not an authentic castle, in fact, it was rebuilt in the 1920s to be a replica of the castle that once stood there. Although it's not exactly authentic, it is one of the most photographed castles in Europe. It has appeared in many movies as well: The World is Not Enough, Entrapment, Elizabeth and Made of Honor, just to name a few. The inside of the castle is a bit different. A woman actually owns this castle and she puts pictures of her children and grandchildren in it.
We checked into our B&B in Portree, Skye's "capital." Talk about small and quaint, the town was matchbox sized and filled with cute shops and pubs. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and were off.
First stop was a memorial of a woman who is a local legend in Scotland. Flora MacDonald saved Bonnie Prince Charlie by bringing him to Skye after the massacre at Culloden. After being to so many sights filled with tourists, we were surprised to be the only people at this memorial. It was on top of a hill overlooking a beautiful bay. The day was crisp and clear with bright blue skies. As we were leaving the cemetery, we noticed there were some newer gravestones. One caught my eye as we were driving by. I told Joe to stop. The name was Lee Alexander McQueen and the date of death was 2010. I wasn't sure if this was the famous designer or not but I knew he had died recently. After googling him, I found out that his ashes were scattered on the Isle of Skye. That was his memorial stone! Next we went in search of Kilt Rock. This is the infamous rock that is so named because of its likeness to a kilt. The rocks are really impressive, as is the large, sparkling waterfall next to them. From there we went to see the Old Man of Storr. This was a tall rock outcropping. I took a quick nap while Joe did the hour hike to see the Old Man.
We had dinner reservations at a restaurant called Harborview at 8:00. We had quite a bit of time to kill so we had a pint at a pub (obviously) and still had more time to kill after that so we made our way to another pub where we had another pint (I think we made this one a half pint, moderation you know...) and played darts. Joe beat me, barely.
Dinner at Harborview was AMAZING! I know I keep saying this but, yes, this restaurant was small and quaint. In fact, I think the whole restaurant would fit into my living room and kitchen. But the food was so good. Being a coastal city, they specialized in seafood. For a starter (appetizer) I ordered the seared scallops. They were so fresh they melted in your mouth. Joe had the oysters. For my main, I ordered baked cod that was succulent and tender and fell apart in your mouth. It was on a bed of cauliflower mash (mashed cauliflower) and surrounded by this sauce - this amazing mystery sauce that I can't put my finger on exactly what made it so good. It said it was a whisky sauce but I didn't really get much whisky. It was buttery and rich and sharp. It was absolutely delectable. Joe had the mussels. Full on wine and amazing food, I slept like a baby.
Tuesday, September 27
Tuesday was the one truly rainy day we had in Scotland. It was good timing because we would be spending 5 hours in the car driving to Glasgow this day. We had breakfast at the B&B and were off. Although it was rainy, it was quite beautiful. The rain and clouds kind of hung in the air at the base of the hills and created an enchanting mist. This was the kind of weather we were expecting. I'm glad to have experienced it, but the sun was pretty nice!
We returned our rental car at the airport and took a bus into Glasgow. Glasgow was pretty opposite of Edinburgh. Where Edinburgh is historic and classic, Glasgow is your typical big city: noisy, more grimy and lots of young professionals rushing around. It was much more commercial. Lots of stores and malls that stayed open for normal American hours. It's a nice city, but I think we were missing the charm of the Highlands. Glasgow just did not feel "Scottish."
We checked into our hotel and walked (a lot) in search of a place for dinner. This city is quite spread out. We had to take cabs to make it to a spot suggested in a guidebook. We had a half pint at a pub called Blackfriar and eventually we decided on a football pub (or as we know it, soccer) where we were the only ones there! I had a pint and the bangers and mash (sausages on a bed of mashed potatoes with sauce - my stomach just growled remembering it. Look for a bangers and mash post in the future.)
After dinner we went back towards our hotel and found a fun pub that reminded us a little more of Edinburgh. I had two glasses of wine and Joe had a pint and a dram of whisky at Bon Accord. The best part: they had free wi fi! We were the dumb Americans who were on their phones the whole time and not saying a word to each other!
Wednesday, September 28
We actually slept in this day and headed for the Kelvingrove Art Museum. This was the most schizophrenic art museum I have ever been in. In one room you are looking at an exhibit on the famous architect Mackintosh, the next you are looking at an exhibit on violence against women, and the next you're looking at an Eskimo and then you find yourself in front of The Crucifixion, one of Dali's most famous works!
We were blessed with another absolutely warm and sunny day. We got lunch at a highly acclaimed restaurant, Ubiquitous Chip. I had a glass of wine (surprise) and the spiced sweet potato soup (lots of curry) and an artichoke, sun dried tomato and halloumi cheese sandwich - delicious! Joe had the soup and a pork sandwich ...with a pint of course.
We walked off our big lunches through the Glasgow botanical gardens. Everyone was sunning themselves in the park on this day. Ice cream trucks were making a killing. It was a wonderful afternoon in the park.
After that we decided to visit the Glasgow Brewdog and have a pint (or two) there. We spent a couple hours there playing Uno Rummy. I think I won...I can't remember. Those were strong pints.
We ended our night again at Bon Accord playing rummy. It was a rummy kind of day.
Thursday, September 29
The saddest day; the last day. We woke up early and took a bus to Edinburgh. Since we couldn't yet check into our hotel, we spent another sunny day exploring the city. We had lunch at a pub called The Albanach and had steak sandwiches and half pints. Then we walked to the Art Museum. It was probably one of the most well displayed collection of art I've seen and best of all it was free! We walked through the city taking pictures, trying to take it all in and commit it to memory. We also took this time to scour every souvenir shop trying in vain to find souvenirs.) No dice. We stopped to have afternoon tea at a little tea shop overlooking the Royal Mile and people watched. We stopped to watch street performers and tried to plan out a place for dinner. We finally decided on a place called Maxxi's. While it had a great view from a terrace overlooking Grassmarket, the food left a bit to be desired. Not what I wanted for my last meal in Scotland. Oh well, guess that means I have to go back!
That evening we bought tickets for a literary pub tour. Two actors take you to different pubs and explain and reenact scenes from some of Scotland's most famous writers such as Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. We started at the Beehive, walked (uphill) to the Jolly Judge, then to a very, very old pub Ensign Ewart (est in 1680!) and ended at the very popular Cafe Royal. It was a great last night in Edinburgh, and Scotland!
If ever you would like to travel overseas someday, I highly recommend Scotland. They speak English, the cities are for the most part very safe and clean, the prices are reasonable, the people are very friendly and most of all, it's one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I've ever been. I hope to be back some day!
I wanted to see if I could watch Joe play. I made my way to the course and tried to look for a man in khakis and a red wind breaker. I thought I saw him, so I walked a ways and realized it wasn't him. I went to the starter shed and asked if someone could tell me what group Joe was in. He looked at his paper and said, actually that is his group walking onto 18 just now! Go over and cheer him on! So I made it just in time to take pictures of him finishing his excellent round of golf ! (He shot an 85, I guess that is good.)
We walked off our big lunches through the Glasgow botanical gardens. Everyone was sunning themselves in the park on this day. Ice cream trucks were making a killing. It was a wonderful afternoon in the park. 
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