Alpha Romeo Here We Go, Our Ireland and Scotland Journey, Part 9

Day 10

We're leaving Edinburgh for the highlands.  Before leaving Edinburgh, both figuratively and physically, let me say that Kim and I both loved Edinburgh and we don't say that lightly.  In general we don't like big cities.  The architecture was stunning.  The people were friendly.  It was very compact and easy to navigate.  Really nice.

Today I got around a little early and hiked up to my favorite spot, Calton Hill, for some early morning photography.  Nothing special really.  I kept waiting for the light to do what I wanted but clouds and time limitations stymied me again.  Still, I'm fairly happy with some of the shots.  We'll see when I go through my photos from the Canon.

Ok, back to the hotel.

National Monument of Scotland

Off to the Highlands we go, or so we thought.  We packed up all of our things as compactly as we could and headed out of the hotel into the busy streets of Edinburgh with 3 suitcases, 3 backpacks and 2 very touristy looking Americans.  Randy quickly arranged an Uber ride for us, so we waited for the arrival.  And we waited.  Taxis apparently can't pick up on Princes street and he was waiting on a corner around the block.  We didn't get there fast enough for him and he left us.  Not to be deterred or phased by a little setback, Randy booked another one at the location the previous driver had chosen for pickup.  Foiled AGAIN!  This time the driver picked up another passenger and marked it as RANDY.  We were charged for the ride and dumbfounded as our taxi took off with another rider.  Third time has to be the charm, so, here we go for round three.  Finally, yes indeed, a taxi arrived for us.  It was even a van so there was plenty of room for us and our luggage.  On to Enterprise to pick up the rental car.

The drive across the city was uneventful and the driver was kind.  Oh, and Randy emailed Uber and they made it right so we didn't have to pay for the cab-jumpers ride after all.  The chaps at Enterprise were jolly and delighted to get us in a car and on the road as soon as possible.  Everything was going smoothly, they brought out a fresh, clean car,  and started going over procedures and asked Randy to sign and confirm the car was free of damage and we were on our way.  Nope, nada...no way.  Randy found a dent in the left front bumper.  We were not in any way bothered by a small dent, but the chaps at Enterprise would have nothing of that.  So, we waited for several minutes, about 15 total and they brought out another car.  Randy was pretty excited at the car they rolled out for him to drive.  He would have to make due this time with an Alfa Romeo.  A luxury sports car for our jaunt to the Scottish High Country, it would do in a pinch.  Yes indeed, good things come to those who wait!  


First stop was Dunfermline Abbey, only about 30 minutes away without traffic or about 50 with mid-morning traffic.  Some of Scotland's greatest medieval kings were buried here, including King Robert the Bruce whose tomb is actually directly below the pulpit.  Am I the only one who thinks that is a little odd?

Robert the Bruce

Anyway, not many photos here due to rain outside.  The surrounding area was

Dunfermline Abbey

quite complex, with both the current church an an older church behind it.  There were also ruins from the various abbey buildings and a former palace from around the 12th century.  We also ran across the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie.  Yep, he's from Dunfermline, Scotland.

Blair Castle

From here we traveled north and a bit west to Blair Castle about an hour and a half away in Blair Atholl.  We had a choice of seeing Scone (pronounced scoon) Palace or Blair Castle and we were glad that we chose Blair.

First, it's the only white castle we've seen.  Certainly unique in that respect.  The grounds around the castle are maintained as a garden and are really spectacular.  The highlight, however, was the inside of the castle.  Nearly the entire castle is part of the self-guided tour.  Tons of

rooms.  From the excellent condition of the rooms to the contents one could take hours looking and reading about everything.  And there were employees of the castle that wandered through answering questions and being extremely helpful.  I can't say enough good things about this castle.  Right up there with Bunratty as my favorite castle.  It also has a rich history.  Really nothing negative I can say about it.

After finishing up at Blair Castle the weather had cleared some, or at least was

Inside Blair Castle

not horrible, so we decided to drive to the Queen's View just a few miles away.

Queen's View is a viewpoint over Loch Tummel that is thought to have been named for Queen Victoria, but more likely for Queen Isabella, Robert the Bruce's wife.  It was a nice drive and a great viewpoint but the weather closed in on us which limited the view.

Queen's View

From there we drove to Glengarry Castle Hotel in Invergarry, our home for the evening.  For those who want to know, "inver" means mouth of a river.  And sure enough, Invergarry is located on the Garry River.  

Lots of rain and curvy roads for almost 2 hours.  The landscape was stunning even in the rain.  I am struck mostly by the various textures and color palettes, from various shades of brown and yellow to all kinds of greens, they were all captured on the hills and valleys.  I'm really hoping to capture just a small glimpse of this beauty in the next few days.  

We arrived a little after 6 pm with a reservation for dinner at 7 pm.  Dinner was

Glengarry Castle Hotel

included with our reservation and it was really lovely, a three course meal by a French chef.  Although I had been told prior to the trip that special dress attire was not required, I still felt under dressed as most men either wore a jacket and/or a tie.  It was some elegant dining for sure.

So full bellies and another blessed day.  This day is done.

Randy

The Royal Treatment, Our Ireland and Scotland Journey, Part 8

Day 9 

Breakfast.  Judging by our hotel in Edinburgh  Kim and I both prefer the Irish breakfast.  However there's not a huge difference.  It may just be how the hotel handles it.  We'll see over the next few days.

Our plan for the day was to head to Calton Hill first to see the Nelson Monument and city view, and then proceed across the street to the reformers' monument.  From there it made sense to head downhill to the Royal Mile and Holyrood Palace before slowly making our way uphill for 12:30 entrance to Edinburgh Castle and 2:00 tea.

Here we go. 

Calton Hill View

From the very beginning Kim was having pain in her right foot from another bone spur.  For the most part one couldn't tell it.  She was a real trooper, following me around the city to the tune of about 18,000 steps today.

We got to Calton Hill and it started to rain some so I primarily snapped some phone pics of the view and of the Nelson Monument (that's Admiral Lord Nelson to you) and we moved on. 

Nelson Monument

It was windy and cold on top of the hill.  View of the city was nice but a bit dull with the rain and low clouds.

On to the local reformers' monument.  

My bad.  I'm telling on myself here.  The nearby monument, called the “Martyrs of Reform Monument”,  was actually a monument for some political reformers, not religious reformers.  It's also called the Political Reformers' Monument.  Now I know.  It was raining.  I took no pictures.  However, within just a few feet of this monument was another one I was quite surprised to see, The American Civil War Memorial, dedicated to Scots who died in The Civil War.  Pretty cool.

Civil War Memorial

I got my head around being wrong about the monument, did some quick research, and located the right monument near Greyfriar's Kirkyard, already on my list to see so that was good.

We hit The Royal Mile just downhill from Mercat Cross and St. Giles' Cathedral

John Knox House

which was just right (see previous day) and shortly came upon the last residence of reformer John Knox.  We didn't actually take the house tour but ducked (literally for me) into the visitor centre briefly to read some information.  Apparently he lived there for about the last 18 months of his life.

On to Holyrood Palace.  The exterior of the building was nice but not special.  I'm fairly certain that Kim liked the china in the gift shop more than anything

Holyrood Palace

else there.  With a long walk to the other end of The Royal Mile ahead of us, all uphill, and Kim having foot issues we decided to skip the palace tour so we had more time to slowly walk uphill.  And Kim wanted to shop some.

So we walked the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle.  More-or-less.


We did take a detour to Greyfriars Kirkyard and the other reformer’s monument,

called the Covenanters’ Memorial, in The Grassmarket.  Also in Greyfriars

Covenanters' Prison

Kirkyard is the Martyrs' Memorial which commemorates some 18,000 covenanters who died for their faith.  Unfortunately it's under much-needed repair and we couldn't view it.  Also, Greyfriars Kirk was closed for the day for a recording session.  

Also on the grounds of Greyfriars Kirkyard is the "prison" for the covenantors, essentially a walled and gated area where up to 1,000 of them were kept at the same time with no shelter and only 4 ounces of bread per day each.

The Covenanters' Memorial is located in the Grassmarket, a former marketplace and an open area where the public gallows were located and where many covenanters were executed in the 17th century.  It is a very simple memorial with a circular inscription that reads:

"Many Martyrs and Covenanters died for the Protestant Faith on this spot"

It was a special moment.  Reading that inscription and standing there suddenly made their sacrifice more real than just reading about it.  Kim and I both had this visceral reaction and were quite emotional for some time.

Some song lyrics come to mind here from a Steven Green song.

The chorus of The Faithful by Steve Green:

From under the altar the voices are crying

"How long Lord, till you come judge the earth?"

But He'll wrap and redeem them in robes of pure white

For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church

For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church

Contrast this memorial (to over 100 covenanters who stood firm and were hanged for their beliefs) to the Sir Walter Scott Memorial on Princes Street (see yesterday's post), one man who wrote poetry and stories.  

I think the covenanters would approve of this memorial.

Back to The Royal Mile.

And bagpipes.  It's a little trite perhaps but still really cool to hear the bagpipes on the streets of Edinburgh.  Que the video. (eventually.  tech problem)

In front of Edinburgh Castle

From here we quickly climbed the hill to the open esplanade in front of Edinburgh Castle. 12:20.  Really good timing.

National War Museum

We explored the castle grounds. They are very large and complex.  Some great museums, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum, Museum of The Royal Regiment for Scotland, and perhaps the most impressive thing and moving building we saw, The National War Museum, a memorial for WWI.  What a great memorial.  Super.  Also the Great Hall and the Royal Palace.  There's a ton to see.

With one eye on the time, we headed over to have 2:00 tea in the tea room just off the castle's square.  I think Kim liked it.  You'll have to ask her.

After our tea we walked back to our hotel with a slight detour to Princes St. Gardens for a view of the castle.

After a quick break in our room we tried to eat at a local restaurant and it was packed.  Grabbed food in a store again.

Started packing to leave the city in the morning.

Game over.  

Both of us were beat.  

Foot sore.  

But it was a great day. 


Randy

Moved by Martyrs, Our Ireland and Scotland Journey, Part 7

Day 8

It’s a travel day.  We’re flying out of Shannon Airport to Edinburgh, Scotland.  While a bit sad to be leaving Ireland it’s also exciting to finally see Scotland.

With a 10:55 departure we were told that we only needed about an hour and a half to check-in and clear security so we left our B&B in Galway just before 08:00.  Navigation gave an arrival of about 09:10 so that seemed good.  I got a bit nervous driving through Galway as traffic was horrendous and it took quite a while to reach the M16 motorway.  Nevertheless we got there with no problems, checked in the car with no scratches I might add.  Yep, didn’t even bushwhack it once, and it turns in a circle really well too.  Also.

So we flew into Edinburgh on Aer Lingus.  Their revenue model is cheap fares plus baggage fees, seat fees, fees to eat, fees to drink, you get the idea.  There were some unhappy people checking bags and discovering they were overweight.  I knew all of that and had already paid for us to have heavy bags so the gate agent was nice and allowed us to check our carry-on bag for free.  Well done, sir.

On arrival we were met by our driver, Stephen “Steve” Dunn, a fine Scotsman and a great driver.  It doesn’t hurt that he was driving a Tesla Model S.  What a sweet ride!!

Princes Street, the location of our hotel Murcure Edinburgh City Hotel, is restricted to taxis and buses so he dropped us off on a nearby side street and we were in the hotel within 1-2 minutes.  Our room was ready early so we were able to check-in and head to our room briefly before hitting the streets again.  It was around 14:00 at this point so we headed up the hill towards the Royal Mile.

Scott Monument

Very prominent across from our hotel is the Scott Monument.  This is a massive monument in honor of Scotland's Sir Walter Scott.  Massive.

And likely some long-lost cousin of mine as my maternal grandmother was a Scott.

We were pre-booked on an Underground Edinburgh tour at 16:00 so we had some time constraints to consider.  First thing was food. 

I had some advice to visit Deacon Brodie’s Tavern and we stumbled upon it as we got up the hill.  Good

place and good timing.  It was really busy for mid-afternoon but we found some seats on the 2^nd floor (1^st floor here).  The story of Deacon Brodie is quite interesting.  Apparently he was an honest cabinet-maker and deacon of a trades guild by day and a thief by night.  Ended up, well, at the end of a rope I believe.  He is supposedly the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll.

The food?  Average.

From there we headed towards Mercat Cross where we would meet our tour guide.  With almost an hour left before the tour, we were able to stop and see St. Giles’ Cathedral.

St. Giles' Cathedral

St. Giles’ Cathedral is the High Kirk of Edinburgh and is currently associated with the Church of Scotland.  In the 16^th century it was in the center of the Scottish Reformation and notable reformer John Knox was a minister here.

The cathedral isn’t special on the outside to be honest.  Perhaps I’m a bit jaded from the great cathedrals of Ireland.  Nevertheless it didn’t disappoint on the inside.  Quite lovely.

Besides a statue and plaque for John Knox, there was a tomb for another reformer, Archibald Campbell, Marqvess of Argyll.  It was quite moving and reminded us of the martyrs who have fought for what we now have and take for granted.  I will post the photo but the inscription may be hard to read.  Here it is.

BEHEADED * NEAR * THIS * CATHEDRAL * AD * 1661

LEADER IN COVNCIL AND IN FIELD FOR THE REFORMED RELIGION

“I set the Crown on the King’s Head

He hastens me to a better Crown than his own”

From the cathedral it was less than a minute to the Mercat Cross for our underground tour.  Mercat is another word for market, just as kirk is used here for church.  The Mercat Cross is a former platform in the market that was used for important proclamations and a place where caddies could be hired in the 18^th century as guides for the city.

Our lovely guide was Margaret Ann with Mercat Tours.  She was very good at her job, transporting us back to the late 18^th century in Edinburgh.  The underground we saw was actually a series of rooms that were created under the South Bridge around 1788.  The stone bridge had a series of arches that were divided and used by merchants primarily, although the seedier side was also discussed.  It was quite interesting and a hidden part of Edinburgh that most people don’t know exists.

After the tour we headed back towards our room.  As we had a late lunch we just stopped at a store and bought some sandwiches to eat.  It was around dusk, so 6:30-ish and the lights of the city were becoming prominent. 

Pretty, pretty lights.

So instead of resting I headed back out for a late night photo shoot.

First I went up Calton Hill and took photos of the city from there.  It’s a great overlook of Princes Street and much of the older district.  Unfortunately it kept spitting rain on me even though the moon was visible.

View from Calton Hill

From there I worked my way down Princes Street and past our hotel hoping for a better view of the castle,  didn’t really find it.  The moon was right above part of the castle and made photography very difficult.

Anyway it was great fun.  More pictures below from my phone.

Another big day tomorrow.  Lights out.

John Knox in St. Giles' Cathedral