Scotland: land of stunning vistas; kilts; and the water of life, whiskey. Also home to some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. There was very little I didn’t love about Scotland (mainly the temperature, which was decidedly chilly) and with a whole bunch of new friends there was a big part of me that simply never wanted to leave.
I started out in Edinburgh, the grand medieval capital of Scotland. I was in love from the moment I arrived; ‘Old Town’ is really that, old. Built on the hill leading up to the beautiful Edinburgh castle, the city is a veritable labyrinth of back alleys and staircases winding their way between the medieval stone buildings. One of the easiest and most enjoyable cities to get lost in, and when you decided to get un-lost just head for the castle looming above the city. ‘New Town’ is only new in relation to the medieval old town and is a gorgeous Georgian area with wide boulevards on a logical grid system that’s in sharp contrast with the maze of the old city. The two are divided by the train tracks that cut through the center of Edinburgh.
My first day was spent exploring the massive Edinburgh Castle and wandering down the Royal Mile to the home of the Scottish Parliament, a hyper-modern building that, while neat, feels very out of place on this side of the tracks. The building was designed to resemble the Scottish Thistle when viewed from above (a feat possible by climbing one of the many paths up the small extinct volcano that is now Holyrood Park), and it actually kinda does if you apply a small dose of imagination. After my wanderings I spent the evening ensconced at a corner table in the back room of the Elephant House café, scribbling parts of my novel on the rather generously-sized paper napkins. And for those of you who don’t know, the back room of the Elephant House is where J.K. Rowling first penned Harry Potter on the rather generously-sized paper napkins. Here’s to hoping that it’s the napkins that are lucky.
The next day I took a bus out to the coast to visit St. Andrew’s and the ruins there. The ruins were beautiful and plentiful, the coastline was majestic, and the town was quaint. And the weather was miserable. It couldn’t make up it’s mind whether it wanted to rain or snow, so it spent most of the day doing both, throwing in a good strong wind just for kicks. It was a good exercise in attempting to keep my camera dry and the water spots off my lens (even so a good chunk of my shots from that day have lovely spots on them). But it was still a good day and I’m glad I got to go, the ruins were worth it and the weather did add a certain atmosphere.
Saturday found the weather cool and partly cloudy, perfect weather for a nice hike up to Arthur’s Seat, the crater of the volcano. Well, due to not feeling great I didn’t make it up that far but it was still a nice hike and offered some pretty fantastic views of the city, the hills beyond and the harbor. Hung out on a little outcrop for nearly an hour just enjoying the view before heading back down to the Royal Mile for the ever-wonderful institution of afternoon tea, complete with fresh scones with clotted cream and jam.
Feeling warmer and revitalized I took my camera for a walk and got delightfully lost in the winding back alleys of Edinburgh. Some day I want to take a model with me and get lost there; the possibilities for awesome shoots are everywhere, every corner holds something new and interesting. Finally it started to get dark and I managed to get myself un-lost and make my way back to my hostel to get ready for a night out. Went to a neat little club held once a month in the basement of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- themed pub and had my first real experience with just how much fun Scots can be. Everyone was just chill; they were just there to have a good time and they wanted to make sure everyone else had a good time too. Great fun.
Sunday was a not-so-early train to Glasgow (I got back from the club around 4:30, early was not going to happen) despite the part of me that simply wanted to stay in Edinburgh. That part of me was grumbling loudly when I showed up in Glasgow and it was raining and I didn’t know where I was going to stay (having been the brilliant person I am and not having booked a place in advance). Luckily the lovely lady in the tourist information center was able to call around to find me a bed and then gave me directions on how to get there.
The hostel was in the West End district of the city at the top edge of Kelvingrove Park, about a 10 minute bus ride from the city center. Luckily the rain stopped briefly after the bus dropped me off and I followed the signs for the hostel for a good trek up a hill and around to the far side of the neighborhood. Got all checked in and then told that my room was on the third floor, meaning I got to haul my luggage up four flights of stairs. It was worth every friggin step. The room was located on the top floor with a big window overlooking the park and the city beyond and a windowsill more than wide enough to sit on with a blanket, my laptop and a pot of tea on the chair next to me. Which is exactly how I spent my first evening after venturing down to the city for dinner and watching one of the most spectacular sunsets from the park.
Monday took me to the eastern side of the city to the grand old Glasgow Cathedral and sprawling Victorian Necropolis. The Cathedral was quite nice, especially the old crypt underneath where the body of a saint is supposedly buried and they have a little museum giving some of the history of the cathedral. The Necropolis is situated on a hill overlooking the city (there are a lot of things situated on hills overlooking cities in Scotland, they’re rather fond of their hills) and it is massive. I spent nearly three hours there and didn’t manage to see all of it. The gravestones and monuments are beautiful and many of them are covered in carved Celtic knotwork. And in keeping with what I learned is the typical Glasgow weather pattern, as the afternoon wore on the clouds began to break, letting through shafts of sunlight and creating a beautiful sky.
Nessie was the word of the day on Tuesday as I took a one-day tour from Glasgow all the way up to Loch Ness in search of the ‘monster’. It was nearly 12 hours in a van made more than bearable by the fact that we were travelling through some of the most spectacular landscapes I’ve ever seen. The Highlands of Scotland are truly awe-inspiring. Our first stop of the day was on the bonnie, bonnie shores of Loch Lomond, immortalized in a famous Scottish song “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road”.
We made a few other brief stops along the way, including Glencoe, famous for the massacre of the MacDonald Clan, before arriving at Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness. We had a short (and I mean short, like 20 minutes kind-of short) time to explore the castle and I’m glad I skipped the 10-minute video about Nessie since I barely got to see everything as it was. Then it was onto a boat for a cruise on Loch Ness ‘in search of the monster’, or at least a nice view of the loch and the castle.
Then back on the bus for a brief drive through the city of Inverness (there’s not much to drive through) before turning south and heading for home. We made one more stop in Pitlochry, a little Victorian-style village that had a heavy flavor of tourist trap but it was fine to grab some snacks for the bus ride back to Glasgow. We passed though more stunning landscapes and drove past Stirling Castle and the William Wallace Monument, our guide, a young Scotsman named Colin, continuing his monologue of history and stories about the areas we passed through, interjected with carefully selected music (as in we listened to the song about Loch Lomond as we passed it and various songs about the Highlands, etc.). All in all a very good day, though sadly no sightings of Nessie to report. The mystery lives on.
Wednesday was the day for the ‘water of life’; whiskey. The name comes from the Gallic word ‘Uisge Beatha’ meaning water of life and it is the national drink of Scotland. You don’t just order a whiskey here, some bars have over three hundred different varieties to choose from. So to further my whiskey education I made the journey to Glengoyne Distillery, the southern-most of the Highland distilleries, for a tasting tour. They started us off with a dram of 10-year while we watched a short video on the history of whiskey and the distillery itself before taking us through the different areas and explaining each step of the whiskey-making process. My tour then continued to the club house to sample a 12-year and a 21-year while learning how to properly ‘taste’ a whiskey. Things ended with a dram of 17-year single cask that was simply amazing (and of course very expensive). A fabulous end to what I thought was my last day in Scotland.
I was supposed to fly to Barcelona on the 29th to see VNV Nation in concert on the 30th but due to three of the four members of the band being ill the show was postponed. Until September. Needless to say, I will not be able to attend. But the one lucky thing is that I learned about the cancelation Wednesday night while I was still able to change my plane ticket. I had two options, go to Barcelona anyway and continue with the original plan simply sans concert or spend an extra week in Scotland. I chose the latter, which I’m thoroughly convinced was the right choice.
Thursday was spent reworking my itinerary and deciding where I wanted to go with my extra week. I decided to head up to Glencoe to spend a few days hiking in the Highlands and then back to Edinburgh for a few nights. New plan in hand I spent Friday wandering the city and visiting a few of the museums on the University campus, including the Mackintosh House, which was a very nice collection of works by Charles Mackintosh, an Art Nuevo architect/artist from Glasgow. The day ended with me playing around with the macro filters for my lens and the myriads of flowers in Kelvingrove Park.
Saturday a fabulous day followed by an equally fabulous night. Things started off with meeting up with Jon, one of the Glasgow Steampunks, who was involved with a Chopin piano recital at the beautiful , if dilapidated, Britannia Panoptica music hall. The hall was once part of a Victorian entertainment venue that housed a zoo in the basement, a bar on the ground floor, performance space/music hall on the first floor, and a freak show on the second floor. One ticket got you into all of them and there were a whole range of events that occurred in the music hall. In the current day and age, a casino occupies the ground floor but they still host concerts and various other performances in the music hall.
After the recital Jon and I went for a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate in my case) to, well, get to know each other. He’s a thoroughly delightful chap and we passed the afternoon by him giving me a tour of all the best charity shops for acquiring steampunk gear (and if there had been room in my suitcase, I would have walked away with a few smashing new pieces. Alas they remained hanging in their respective stores). We parted ways and I headed off to the Glasgow version of the club I attended in Edinburgh. Met some amazing people and an awesome night.
I was supposed to go up to Glencoe on Sunday but I found out (luckily before I left Glasgow) that all of the hostels in Glencoe were full that night. So plans got rearranged, again, and I took the bus up on Monday instead. The three days were an experience. The area is absolutely spectacular, though sadly I didn’t make it down to Rannoch Moor like planned, and for the most part the weather cooperated. I got two good hikes in despite the food poisoning and simply the trip there and back made everything worth it. Definitely made me even more interested in doing the West Highland Way, a 95-mile walk from Glasgow to Ft. Williams through the Highlands.
Returned to Glasgow on Thursday in time to head to the University for the weekly meeting of the Glasgow University Steampunk Society, where we watched Wild Wild West and had cake to celebrate the birthday of one of the members. Then it was off to the student bar to continue the party and watch the result of the election come in.
Sadly Friday meant it was time to leave Scotland and move onto the next stop, Barcelona. The two weeks I spent in Scotland were amazing. The scenery is breathtaking, the whiskey is plentiful, and the people are fantastic. To all my new friends, thanks for everything and I’ll be back soon. Cheers!