Our Scotland adventure

I've been meaning to write a post about our visit to Scotland during the first week of September. Jean, Maria and I decided to take a trip to Edinburgh already last summer, and plans began to firm up during the winter months when we booked our flights and the hotel apartment. We arrived in Edinburgh on the last Saturday in August; Jean and Maria had direct flights from Newark, NJ, whereas I had to fly first into London Heathrow and then get a flight to Edinburgh from London. The flight from London to Edinburgh was a bit bumpy, and the nearer we got to Edinburgh the bumpier it got. The stewardesses took it all in stride, saying that they were used to the turbulence due to the winds around Edinburgh. I could have done without it, and was hoping for a turbulence-free takeoff the following Saturday when we left, which luckily was the case.

The week offered us a variety of weather conditions--heavy rain, light rain, wind, sun, and cloudy days. There was no point in complaining about bad weather; we realized fairly quickly that Scotland has unpredictable weather. I got used to borrowing one of the many umbrellas that the hotel provided for its guests. We stayed at The Knight Residence by Mansley located at 12 Lauriston St, which we can recommend as a very nice and friendly place to stay. We rented an apartment for the week, which included a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. The apartment had free wifi that worked well, and a kitchen welcome basket of cereals, coffee and tea. Bread and milk were also included in the welcome package. We bought some more breakfast items, fruit, and snacks to stock up; all other meals were eaten in local nearby restaurants or on the tours that we took. The hotel was conveniently right next door to a Catholic church--the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart, so we were able to attend mass on Sunday.

We spent Saturday in and around the neighborhood of the hotel, visiting Grassmarket Square where we ate a pub dinner at The White Hart Inn. Sunday was spent wandering around Edinburgh, visiting the Castle and taking a short tour there, walking along Princes Street and through the Princes Street Gardens. We ate dinner at Fiddlers Arms on Sunday evening--another good pub dinner. In my experience (England), pubs tend to offer pretty decent food at reasonable prices; I would say the same about the Edinburgh pubs. In contrast, some of our restaurant meals left a lot to be desired. At the end of our long days when we walked around the city, we were usually pretty tired and ready for a cup of tea and some snacks by the time we got back to the apartment.

We didn't plan any day trips outside of Edinburgh until we actually arrived in Scotland, although we had some ideas of what we wanted to see before we booked the tours: St. Andrews, Loch Lomond, and Loch Ness and the Highlands. We decided to take our bus tours on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and to have Wednesday and Friday free to tour Edinburgh further on foot.

On Monday, we took the first of our two bus tours with Rabbies Tours (which we can recommend highly for their knowledgeable and amusing guides) to Loch Lomond and Stirling Castle (https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-edinburgh/day-tours/loch-lomond-national-park-stirling-castle-day-tour). Our first stop was The Helix Park, which is located between Falkirk and Grangemouth. This park is home to The Kelpies, which are 30-meters high horse head sculptures--the largest equine sculptures in the world. Our tour guide told us that the Kelpies were designed to honor the horse-powered heritage across Scotland, but their name is the Scottish name given to a shape-shifting water spirit inhabiting the lakes of Scotland, which usually takes the shape of a horse (and sometimes human form). We then drove onward to Loch Lomond, which is the largest lake in Scotland by surface area, but it was raining so heavily that we did not get a chance to walk along the lake. We drove onward to Aberfoyle, where we ended up eating a very good lunch at The Forth Inn, and after lunch we did some shopping at the gift store nearby. We then drove onward to Stirling Castle, one of the largest in Scotland, which took us several hours to go through completely.

On Tuesday, our second Rabbie's Tour took us to St Andrews & the Fishing Villages of Fife on the east coast of Scotland, north of Edinburgh (https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-edinburgh/day-tours/st-andrews-the-fishing-villages-of-fife-day-tour). Our first stop was the beautiful fishing village of Anstruther, with its lovely quaint buildings, fishing boats, and low tide at the time we were there. After Anstruther, we drove further to St. Andrews, 'the home of golf'. It is a lovely town, with a famous university, cathedral ruins, a famous 'old' golf course, the beach where the beach scene in Chariots of Fire was filmed, and some really good restaurants. We ate lunch there, and then drove on to Falkland, where we stopped to visit the Falkland Palace Gardens, which were lovely.

On Wednesday, we stayed in Edinburgh, and walked the Royal Mile, visiting St. Giles Cathedral along the route. The Royal Mile is a series of streets that connect Edinburgh Castle with Holyrood Palace (the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II when she is in Scotland). We did not tour Holyrood Palace, but opted instead to walk up Calton Hill, which we did not regret. The weather turned from cloudy to sunny almost at the same time as we arrived at the summit, which gave us some gorgeous views of Edinburgh and the skyline.

On Thursday, we took our third bus tour with Highland Experience Tours to Loch Ness, Glen Coe & the Highlands (https://www.highlandexperience.com/tours/edinburgh/Loch-ness-tour-scottish-highlands.htm). We can also recommend this company. We took the boat trip on Loch Ness, did not see Nessie, but we did visit Urquhart Castle, which was well-worth seeing. Again, the weather became sunny immediately after we disembarked at the castle pier. It was actually quite warm walking around the ruins of the castle. And the Highlands were absolutely stunning--pictures cannot do them justice--they must be seen.

One of the most memorable things about all the bus trips was that the guides played Scottish music many times during the trips; both folk music and rock music. I especially liked the folk music (e.g. Dougie MacLean's song Caledonia), but it was interesting to learn that some of the rock musicians we grew up with come from Scotland. It was also interesting to learn that J.K. Rowling (of Harry Potter fame) lives in Edinburgh, and used some of the public schools as inspiration for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, particularly George Heriot's School.

On Friday, we walked to Dean Village, a quiet residential area in Edinburgh that borders the Water of Leith (a small river). In my opinion, this is one of the most lovely and idyllic places in Edinburgh. We walked around the small village, and then walked along the river path, called the Water of Leith Walkway, to the Royal Botanic Garden, where we spent the better part of the afternoon. We also ate lunch at the Garden cafe. The garden itself was lovely and quite large, and we did not have a chance to walk around the entire garden. But it is well-worth a visit, as is its gift store, which had so many unusual and interesting items for sale.

Overall impressions of our week in Edinburgh and Scotland--Edinburgh Castle is impressive, Calton Hill was lovely, Dean Village and the Leith river walk were idyllic, and the Princes Street gardens were also lovely. Princes Street itself was busy, noisy, and touristy--ok but not my favorite place. The Royal Mile was also quite touristy, but worth doing. Our bus tours can be recommended--the prices were reasonable, the guides were knowledgeable and very nice, and the places we visited were memorable, historic, and lovely. But most of all, it was nice to see Scotland together with my oldest and dearest friends--a wonderful Scotland adventure. Hopefully we'll be able to do more traveling together in the coming years.

I'll post some photos soon of our Scotland adventure.