Edinburgh, Scotland

Our tour of Scotland was fast approaching its conclusion when we arrived at our last stop--Edinburgh. We began the visit with an introduction to our next Rick Steves guide and an orientation walk around the Grassmarket and the Royal Mile. 

After the walk, we ended up at a pizza place for dinner where I finally had the chance to try some Scottish cider. 

The next day we started off our time with a guided tour of the city where we saw a lot of highlights.

After our tour and time at the castle, we were hungry. With it being chilly, comfort food sounded good and we found a place called Mum's Great Comfort Food that hit the spot. 

As a kid visiting Scotland I remember seeing and hearing bagpipe players on the street corner. I'm not sure if it was in Edinburgh or another Scottish city, but I was really hoping to experience that again on this trip. Edinburgh was THE spot! We saw several pipers in the few days we were there and it filled my heart with so much joy each time. Were they all super good? Probably not, but it didn't matter to me.

On our final day in Edinburgh (and Scotland...sadness), we visited Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament. I fell in love with the Parliament building, but did not take any pictures. The design of the building was so well thought out with the intention to really represent Scotland and be a place for the people of Scotland. It was beautiful. 

After lunch in the Parliament café and a bit of a stroll, we took a walking tour of the Edinburgh new town (circa Georgian period) with our Rick Steves guide and another couple from the group. It was an optional tour that most people skipped out on. But it was neat to see the difference in that part of town compared to the side that most tourists stick to. 

Our tour ended at the Georgian House. The whole time we walked through the house I felt like a Bridgerton. It was a neat museum to compare with the Tenement House from Glasgow. 

It was really hard to leave Scotland to return home. I would return in a heartbeat as there is so much more to see and experience.

St Andrews, Scotland

It was time to leave Perthshire and make our way to Edinburgh! Up until this day, I had lucked out and not experienced significant motion sickness from the bus ride. However, the combination of sitting towards the back of the bus and curvy roads, even with medicine, meant the morning's bus ride was not a fun one for me. But I survived! 

Our first stop of the day was to St Andrews. We enjoyed a beautiful day in this picturesque city. We only saw a few of them, but St Andrews has a bunch of decorated Scotty dogs around town. Very cute!

We visited the St Andrews castle ruins which included an audio guide. Our time in the city was somewhat limited, so we hurried through and snapped some pictures.

We also walked around the St Andrews cathedral ruins. It was fun to imagine what the building would have been like before its ruin. 

Next up was a stop to Kingsbarns Distillery for a tour and whiskey tasting. Charles and I decided that whiskey is not our thing, but it was interesting to learn about what goes into making the different types.

The last stop before arriving in Edinburgh was to the Firth of Forth. This spot has three bridges spanning the river, each a marvel of engineering. We also used this stop to toast our guide, Charlie, and driver, Jimmy, before they headed off. 

Perthshire, Scotland

Our next day was spent exploring more of Perthshire. Starting from our hotel, Loch Rannoch, we bussed to the Crannog Center. This Iron Age outdoor living history museum was filled with lots of interactive areas despite its current small size. I love museums like this so I was very excited for the visit. It was really interesting to learn about pottery, textiles, food and other things from the Iron Age. This museum is currently expanding to a larger site to include rebuilding a replica crannog. This will be high on my wish list for a return visit to Scotland!

We also visited a park with a beautiful waterfall! Unfortunately, this was a quick stop so we did not have a lot of time to explore the trails. It was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods, though!

For lunch, we stopped in Dunkeld. Charles and I enjoyed our sandwiches and soup at a little café with a charitable cause. The café also had a super cute shop where we picked up some postcards and a souvenir for ourselves.

After lunch, we had a walking tour that included the Dunkeld Cathedral and surrounding area.

Onto Perthshire, Scotland!

Sadly our time in Inverness came to a close and our group was off to the next destination--Perthshire! 

On the journey towards the hotel, we made a few stops. The first was to a cooperage. They make and refinish whiskey barrels for distilleries. We were able to watch as they worked while learning more about the process. 

Another stop was to see a sheep dog demonstration. Wow! Those are smart dogs! The sheep dog owner also has a baby coo (Highland cattle) that we were able to meet. Charles had the opportunity to feed her, too.

After dinner at our hotel, we were treated to a show from famed female bagpiper, Gilly. She was so entertaining! She told us about how she became a bagpiper (to get a guy) and all her adventures as a female piper. She has so much personality and it was fun to listen to her stories in-between her bagpiping.

Inverness, Scotland

After our two nights in Glasgow, we headed to Inverness to start our tour with the Rick Steves tour group! We had originally booked a train from Glasgow to Inverness, but after some record-breaking rain, the trains were cancelled. Luckily Charles did his research and booked bus tickets as a backup before they sold out. 

We arrived in Inverness and quickly walked from the bus station to our hotel to meet up with the group for an orientation. We were supposed to arrive an hour earlier, but arrived right at the start of the orientation so we had to go in soaking wet from the rain. We met everyone, including our guide, and received a nice introduction to the tour. We checked into Glen Mohr for our two nights and relaxed for a bit before our group Inverness Orientation Walk and dinner at The Mustard Seed.

Our hotel was situated right by the river. Due to the heavy rainfall, the river was dangerously close to the banks. 

The next day was filled with lots of activities! After our breakfast at the hotel, we were off to Loch Ness for a boat ride to Urquhart Castle. Unfortunately, no one spotted Nessie. 

This little bird was happy to hang out while tourists (like ourselves) snapped his picture. 

Another stop of the day was to Clava Cairns. Have you heard of Stonehenge? This place is similar. No one knows the purpose of these stone mounds and structures. Our guide encouraged us to come up with our own theories while walking around the area. I am amazed that this place is completely free to visit. 

Another stop was to Culloden Battlefield. Honestly, my expectations for pretty low for this stop. Why would I care about a battlefield? However, after spending an hour with our battlefield guide, this became one of my favorite stops of the trip. She provided us so much interesting history about the Jacobites and the history of the battle. It was also interesting to think about how history could have been completely different if the outcome of the battle was different. Would America be what it is? Would the French Revolution happened? 

At the battlefield, stones were added to represent several clans that were part of the battle. These were added much later on and not necessarily historically accurate. I looked for clan markers for my ancestors, but did not spot them. Mixed clans it is!

Throughout the tour, our guide gave us snacks and treats to try. This was our first taste of whiskey and Scottish tablet. Tablet is the Scottish version of fudge.

Glasgow, Scotland

To celebrate fifteen years of marriage, we booked a trip to Scotland! When I was a little kid, my family visited Scotland and I fell in love with the green landscape and bagpipers on the street corner. Ever since I have been dreaming of my return. 

Most of our trip was spent with our Rick Steves tour group (more on that later), but the first day was spent in Glasgow on our own. We flew into Glasgow airport, took the airport shuttle bus downtown and explored the city. I wish we could have spent more time in Glasgow, but that just means we will have to return in the future to see more. 

Our first excursion was meant to be a spooky tour of Glasgow the first night we arrived. However, with 100% chance of rain (and a lot of rain at that), we opted to skip out. It sounded like it was going to be a really interesting tour, so I am a little bummed that the weather was so poor. Next time... 

On our first full day, we headed to the Tenement House. It's a small museum for a slice of life in Glasgow's recent past. We visited something similar in Bulgaria so I was curious to see this place. It did not take very long to go through it all, but it was fun to look at all the old everyday items that were showcased throughout the museum. They also had a fantastic gift shop! 

Glasgow is known for its plethora of street art. Next time I visit, I hope to take a street art walking tour to see more of it. However, just walking around we saw quite a few pieces. This one is said to depict their patron saint, Saint Mungo. 

When in the UK, you almost have to do two things: ride on a double decker bus and drink tea. Well, we crossed off both of those in one go with an afternoon tea experience ON a vintage double decker bus! It was a rainy day, so this was a convenient way to see the city while sipping on delicious tea and enjoying little sandwiches and desserts.

After our ride around Glasgow, we walked over to the Glasgow Cathedral to see it. We have visited many churches and cathedrals around Europe. This one had the most number of people working (or volunteering?) inside. 

One really great thing about visiting Scotland is that it's an English speaking country. I love visiting other places in Europe, but there was something so convenient about not having to translate restaurant menus. For our final dinner in Glasgow, we opted to visit Stack & Still for pancakes. They offer both sweet and savory options. We ordered one savory and one sweet and shared.