Blogs from Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 13

On August 19 we drove southeast to visit Abbotsford and Melrose Abbey. Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, is a stone baronial mansion with landscaped gardens built in the 1800s . The interior is filled with hundreds of the artifacts that he collected (weapons, taxidermy animal heads, suits of armor, a large library, paintings.) Not far away is Melrose Abbey, a partly ruined monastery that was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I of Scotland and was the chief house of that order in the country until the Reformation.... read more

To many people on the UK mainland and beyond, the Shetland and Orkney Islands are “somewhere up at the top” of the map of Great Britain. In fact, the Shetland Isles (formerly known as Zetland) are a sub-Arctic Archipelago located in the North Atlantic, as close to Norway as to Aberdeen. Shetland consists of a group of 100 islands with approximately 900 miles of coastline and a population of around 27,000. The Orkney Islands are located six miles north of the Scottish mainland. There are about 70 islands within the Orkney archipelago, 17 of which are inhabited. Both Orkney and Shetland are unique and unlike any other part of Great Britain. They have managed to retain many of their original, unique customs and traditions resulting from their long and eventful history. A Little Bit of History: ... read more

During my two weeks in Edinburgh I visited four art museums: The National Portrait Gallery, The Gallery of Modern Art, The Scottish National Gallery and The Royal Scottish Academy. I also took in St Cecilia’s Hall: Concert Room & Music Museum with its wonderful collection of old pianos, harpsichords, etc. When I visited the The Royal Botanic Garden the greenhouses were under renovation but it was still worthwhile.... read more

Today was our last official day of our Ireland/Scotland tour with Cosmos Tours. After our tradition breakfast buffet, we got on the tour bus and set our for Edinburgh Old Town and New Town. (Our hotel was out of the city center). We had a local tour guide, Kenneth, join our group for an in-depth tour of the city of Edinburgh. Our regular guide, Will, made arrangements for our tour of Edinburgh Castle, where we would meet him at a later time. As we drove around the city I didn’t know which way to look first. There are so many churches, schools, monuments, building, etc. I just took pictures….lots of pictures. Sadly, today was a rainy day so some of the pictures aren’t the best. Many of them won’t be identified because we didn’t know what ... read more

We had our typical morning…up at 6, luggage to the bus at 6:45, breakfast at 7, load the bus and depart at 8. Today was mostly a travel day we had to get from the Highlands at Strathpeffer to our home for the next 2 days in Edinburgh. Our first stop was a little Victorian town called Pitlochry which is a cute town with lots of shops and restaurants. It is located close to the Cairngorms; the largest national park in the UK, which we drove through and would continue to do so for some time. Pitlochry was our morning bathroom / snack break. Interestingly enough the public toilets didn’t open until 10 am. We arrived at 9:50 so there was a long line!! Our next stop was St Andrews golf course. St. Andrews is the ... read more