A World Across the Ocean
This past September, my husband and I decided to go on an adventure with another couple to Scotland! It was truly magical. I know it is now November, and I am just getting around to writing about it. I just wanted to make sure that I wrote down everything that I wanted to and share all of our experiences. I will be breaking this trip into three posts: food, overall experience, and travel tips. I truly wanted to make sure I reviewed everything about our trip without writing a novel! So, let’s begin!
This trip was the first overnight trip as well as the longest either my husband and I have ever gone on. We were not sure how to prepare for an overnight flight, but I came quickly to loving Pinterest and all the helpful hints on there. I will be sharing some of those in my travel tips post. We left from the Chicago airport, stopping in Reykjavik, Iceland and finally reaching Dublin, Ireland. We had decided to spend a couple of days there as well, since the plane tickets to Dublin were cheaper than if we would have just flown to Scotland.
While we were in Dublin, we decided to go on a Guinness Stockhouse tour. I had never drunk Guinness before, but I was told that if I was going to do it, now would be the time! It was a lot of fun to tour the stockhouse and see how it was made. We even got to learn how to properly pour a glass. Who would have thought that there would have been a science to pouring a perfect glass of Guinness? The other day we were in Dublin, we did a couple other tours. We went to Kilmainham Gaol, which was a jail from the 1700s. It was so neat to see the jail and be able to hear stories of some of the inmates. The next tour we went on was Dublin Castle. It was definitely not what I was expecting when I thought of a castle. It was definitely more kept up then some of the other ones we would later visit. This was because this particular castle is actually still used today. It is currently hosts the inauguration of each President of Ireland and various State receptions. We ended our trip with eating at the oldest pub in Ireland, the Brazen Head. It was a great way to end our experience in Dublin. We even got to experience live music while we were there!
The next day, we headed out for Aberdeen, Scotland. We ended up getting to stay at a castle that was converted to a hotel. We have said that we would go back there again! We did walk around a little bit in Aberdeen, mainly just exploring the area. The following day would be a day full of castles. We had originally planned to visit three castles, but unfortunately, we were only able to visit two. We had also planned a distillery tour at the Royal Lochnagar Distillery. The two castles that we were able to visit were Castle Fraser and the Craigievar Castle. They were both very different from each other. The Craigievar Castle was pink and believed to be the inspiration for Cinderella’s castle. Both were gorgeous in their own way and had just as gorgeous views from the towers. The distillery was also a lot of fun. I had never been to a whisky distillery before, so it was fun to see how they differed from breweries and rum distilleries.
We then headed towards Inverness. On the way, we stopped and went to the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre. It was so neat there because we actually got to go and feed actual reindeer. They were so neat to see and learn about. When we were able to feed them, it almost felt like feeding a cow or a horse. They basically would nibble the food right out of your hands! After we were done at the reindeer center, we headed towards Culloden Moor. Culloden Moor was the site of the infamous Jacobite battle where almost every Highland family died. It was so neat to walk around and learn about the different parts of the battle.
Our next stop was the Isle of Skye. Our first stop on our trip that day was the Urquhart Castle. This was a castle that was in ruins that overlooked Loch Ness. It is said that the last owners of the castle didn’t want anyone else to take it by siege, so they decided to blow it up. It was very interesting to hear that. With the location of the castle though, it makes sense that they would have an easy time of continual siege. After that, we drove to another castle, Eilean Donan Castle. This one definitely had the feel of a castle to me. The look of it as well as having a stone bridge leading out to it. We then finished our drive to arrive in Portree, where we would be for a couple days. It was a nice little fisherman’s town and was fun to just walk around.
While we were Scotland, we had decided to do a couple of hikes. So, while we were in the Isle of Skye, we chose a couple places to hike. The first was going to be a sunrise hike to see Old Man of Storr. Let me just say as a non-morning person, this hike was completely worth it! It was stunning to see the sun rise on such a beautiful mountain side. We also just walked around and explored a little while as well until all of us were starving. At that point, we headed back to the car and headed back to Portree to get a nice big breakfast. We then took a little break, some of us shopped while the others rested. After a while, we headed back out to go on another hike. We stopped at a viewpoint called Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls before heading to our final hiking destination. It was such a pretty view. The rocks on the cliff definitely looked like a kilt! Our final hike of the day was meant to be a sunset hike, but we decided we wanted to be back down at our car before the sun actually set. The area we decided to hike was called Quiraing. Again, it was worth reaching the top. The views were gorgeous! We were very glad we headed back down when we did. The way down was a little washed out in places, and we really had to be careful and work as a team. After a long day of hiking, we were all ready to get back to our AirBNB and just relax.
The next day, we headed to Dunvegan Castle and Gardens. It was so pretty! The castles never got old! This one had many different gardens you could even look at: a water garden, rose garden, walled garden and woodland garden. We concerned doing the seal tour while we were there, but it was kind of misty and the boat was like a fishing boat. Instead, we headed out and ventured out to the Fairy Pools. They were absolutely stunning. The water was so clear and the colors were stunning. This actually happened to be the only day we got any rain as well. We were very lucky on the weather while we were in Scotland. We mainly had partly cloudy skies with it being in the upper 50s. That night, we relaxed at our AirBNB by lighting a fire in the wood-burning fireplace and sipping on some good wine!
We were getting to the end of our trip with only a couple of days left. The following morning, we walked around Fort William and explored the town. We also went and saw the Jacobite Train head out. This train is known as the “Hogwarts Train”. We also went and saw the Old Inverlochy Castle, which was all in ruins. We were going to go to the Ben Nevis Distillery but the tour times didn’t work with our schedule. We also went and saw the Old Fort of Fort William. After that, we headed to Glasgow. When we got there, we mainly walked around and explored the city. It was different than the other areas we had just been since we were out in the highlands for most of the time.
Before heading to our final destination of Edinburgh, we headed out to see the Kelpies in Falkirk. The Kelpies are 30-meter-high horse-headed sculptures. For those who do not know, kelpies are shape-shifting water spirits who were inhabiting the lochs and pools of Scotland. The kelpies were believed to prey on humans that they would encounter. The sculptures were very cool to see. It is crazy how much detail there was on each of the heads.
Our last two days were spent in Edinburgh. We explored a lot of the city and did some tours. The first night, we went on a whisky and folklore tour. My husband and I had already decided we were not big whisky drinkers, but it was fun listening to the stories of Scotland that our tour guide told us. If you ever get a chance to go on one, we would recommend it. The final day we were there, we went and toured Edinburgh Castle, which gave wonderful views of Edinburgh. We also walked around the Royal Mile, got to see Diagon Alley and Holyrood Palace. After that, we split up as couples, and my husband and I went to check out the National Museum of Scotland while the other couple climbed up St. Arthur’s Seat, a dormant volcano. We would have joined them, but I had gotten a really bad cold by the end of our trip and was not feeling another hike. We did not feel bad about our choice, though, as the museum was incredible! We wish we would have had more time to explore it. There were so many things you could try and so many things to learn about. We felt like it was a perfect way to end our trip.
I apologize for the long post, but no amount of words could describe how amazing our trip to Scotland was. We lucked out on gorgeous weather and wonderful views! The people were very friendly and loved giving us advice on things to check out and places to eat. We would recommend this trip to anyone! Although we were ready to come home and sleep in our own beds after two weeks, I don’t think we would ever have wanted it to be any shorter!