Trip to Highlands/ Town of Oban

Highland Cow

Oban

Kilchurn Castle

Loch Lomond

This Saturday Jess, Andrew and I went on a trip with the international club at Napier to the highlands of Scotland. We set out at 8:30 in morning from Edinburgh where it was snowing/raining. It seemed like a bad day to travel around Scotland but turned out to be very nice weather through out the rest of the day. We headed northwest from Edinburgh where the terrain started to get more hilly as we traveled closer to the highlands. We made a stop next to a farm near the highlands which had highland cattle. The highland cattle looked almost like a yak with their long horns and long matted hair all over their body. After this stop, we now drove into the highlands which were stunning. The hills were now covered in snow from the mornings flurries and made for a really nice drive. There are also many lochs that run through the highlands, and it seemed we were almost always driving next to one. It was pretty amazing driving through the rugged and remote country side of Scotland and made for gorgeous views. Our drive through the highlands was about an hour and half, where at the end of it we reached the small fishing town of Oban which is on the northwest coast of Scotland. We had two hours to travel around the town and eat. We decided to go to a hill near the back of the town which had a monument that was similar to the Colosseum. From here you could see the whole town, the bay with many little fishing boats going in and out, and the coast. While up there the sun came out (which seems to never happen anymore), which made a rainbow over half the town. We all sat up there for twenty minutes just enjoying the view and sun. The rest of our time in Oban we walked down the coast where we came to the ruins of a castle with a castle just 100 yards of the coast. It seemed like a typical picture of Scotland that you find on Wikipedia.  After this we hoped back on the bus and traveled back toward Edinburgh but going south towards Glasgow then east toward Edinburgh instead of directly southeast. We stopped in the highlands to look at Kilchurn Castle which is located on an island in a loch. This is castle that is on my Lonely Planet Scotland book and it was awesome to see it in real life. It was such a nice view, the castle with the snowy highlands in the background. After this stop we then drove to Loch Lomond where we stopped for about thirty minutes to take a look around. This is one of the two national parks in Scotland (the other being the Cairngorms). It was an enormous loch with the hills in the background. It was a great place to sit and reflect on the day. After this we drove back to Edinburgh and ended our trip. It was the first time I had experienced the highlands but I now want to go back a see more of them!

East Lothian Coast and Craigmillar Castle

North Berwick

Gullane Bay

Last weekend Jess, Andrew, Catlin, and I all took a train to North Berwick which is located in East Lothian district. North Berwick is a coastal town to the east of Edinburgh. It was an overcast day which was good weather to me since it had been raining the past couple of days. We planned to do a 6 mile hike along the coast. The hike would go from the North Berwick to the town of Gullane. The hike started off in a bay in North Berwick, with a golf course running next to us for the first two miles a trail. Just off shore were a couple of islands which also went along with the first two miles of the trail. I really enjoyed the first part of the walk, watching people play golf and the Scottish coast next to us as well.  We decided to eat our packed lunch on a rock that over looked the sea and had one of the islands in background. Sitting there I could really understand why people enjoyed Scotland's nature. For the terrain to be so pleasant in such harsh conditions is really amazing. The second part of our hike was still along the coast but the trail was over small hills with knee high grass growing on it. In the fields of grass were also bushes with orange berries growing on them which made for a wonderful background. The end of our hike ended in the town of Gullane on the Gullane bay. Gullane bay was was wedged in between the town and the grassy hills. The coastal town of  Gullane, which had cobble stone streets and many stone building overlooking the bay, reminded me of a quit get away house. East Lothian coast has been one of my favorite places here in Scotland to see because of the rugged and scenic coast.

Craigmillar Castle is located 3 miles south east of Edinburgh. Ricardo, Jess, Andrew and I all decided go and see it. The castle is still mainly in tact which was cool because a lot of the castles in Scotland are ruins now. We learned that the reason Scotland has many castles (over 2700) is because of the different clans trying to protect there territory. Anyways, the castle is most famous for because Mary Queen of Scots stayed in the castle for awhile to escape some of the madness that she was going through back in Holyrood Palace. The castle was pretty massive, having three floors and a couple rooms which were underground. You were able to see all the rooms, including the cellar, prison, bedrooms, dinning rooms, and go on top of the roof. Since it was a pretty nice day (it was sunny for the afternoon. but it had also rained three times that day as well) there were great views of Edinburgh and the surrounding  countryside. I could see all the way to North Berwick where we had traveled the other day, all of Holyrood Park, and the entire coast which was east of Edinburgh. I really enjoyed visiting Craigmillar Castle because of its medieval look, ancient but still intact rooms, and the amazing view of Edinburgh.

Palace of Holyroodhouse and Edinburgh Castle

Holyrood Abby

Last week Jess, Andrew, Mikal and I went to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is located next to Holyrood Park. The palace is the Queen's residence when in Scotland and was the residence of many King's and Queen's from the past. It is also used by the Queen for ceremonies and engagements. When we toured the palace we  were able to see the rooms that were used by the Royalty of Scotland, from the dinning rooms, bed rooms, and entertainment rooms. The room of Mary the Queen of Scot's, who had a very interesting and depressing life, was located in the back corner on the third floor. She stayed only a couple of years at the palace, but witnessed her husband (Lord Darnley)  kill her secretary in front her by stabbing him 53 times. However, my favorite part about the palace was the Holyrood Abbey located by its side. The abbey was mostly ruins but you could see its skeleton structure of what it use to be. With most building in Edinburgh it feels like you are taking a trip back in time, and the abbey was no exception. The stone pillars and arches showed what the abbey could have been if was fully constructed. I also thought it was cool that Sean Connery was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at the Holyroodhouse.

Prince's Street from castle

Mons Meg

For one of our field trips in our Scottish culture class we went to the Edinburgh Castle, which the city was built around. This is probably one of Edinburgh's most popular attraction and is visible almost anywhere in the city.  The castle was built on a volcanic rock which juts out in the center of Edinburgh. However, it was raining on the day we went which made the visit a little dreary. From the castle you can see the whole city. Right in front of the castle is Prince Street, Rose Street, and then George's Street with the port in the background. With in the castle tour we were able to see the castle cannon called Mons Meg, the Scottish National War Memorial, the jail cells for prisoners, and the Royalties residence when there. I enjoyed seeing the Scottish National War Memorial because it showed me how involved the Scots were with WWI and WWII which we are learning about in my Contemporary British History class. I also liked seeing the cells and living arrangements for prisoners who the Scots captured. The cells were extremely small and many of the prisoners slept in a room of hammocks as if on a colonial ship. When Royalty stayed at the castle if was because they were thought to be in danger, not for relaxing. Overall I thought the whole trip to the castle was very informative and gave us great look into Edinburgh's past. Also had great views of the city.

Royal Botanical Gardens and Blackford Hill

In the past weeks the weather has been pretty bad. It has been raining quite a lot lately and we have been getting some snow. Even though it hasn't been the best conditions for outside activities we have managed to see acouple things around town. The other week Jess, Kasia and I walked up to Blackford hill which is located near the south of Edinburgh (opposite of the coast). Edinburgh is full of hills which makes it a great way to see the entire city. THey include Holyrood park (Arthur's seat), the Castle which is located on a hill, Calton hill (near Prince's Street), and Craighouse (one of Napier's campuses) is located on a hill. It was typical Edinburgh weather when we went to Blackford, misty and overcast, but we were still able to see the Castle,  Arthur's seat, and the royal observatory which was located on Blackford hill. Also there was a path that went around the whole hill and went a long a small creek which made the walk very enjoyable. Walking around in the cold conditions made me realize why hardy dishes such as mince and tatties and haggis were typical Scottish meals. To bad I went back and at pasta....

Andrew and I also went to the Royal Botanical Gardens which is located in north Edinburgh. The gardens were free and and nice way to get away from the busy city life. They had many types of different plants and trees which was a nice change from the basically treeless hills and town. They also had a pond in the middle of the park with lots of ducks and weird looking birds swimming around. My favorite part of the gardens was the Chinese Garden. It was located on a hill and you started at the bottom and winded up on a small path to the top of the hill going through bamboo, small ponds, and a creek running down the center of the hill. At the top was once a again a view of the entire city, but from the north. So far I have seen the city from the east (Arthur's seat), the south (Blackford hill) and now the North. If I go on the top floor of my campus Sighthill in the east I can get a view from the West...but it doesn't really compare to the other spots.