May 2024
Tour: Insight’s “Best of Ireland & Scotland”
Scotland Tour Hotels:
Radisson Blu Hotel (Glasgow)
Kingsmill Hotel (Inverness)
Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa (Edinburgh)
Glasgow
We took a very fancy ferry from Larne to Cairnryan in Scotland, then hopped on another bus to head to Ardogwan. Sir Ludovic Shaw Stewart (aka Ludo) gave us a guided tour of his inherited estate. Bougie! Then we drove to Glasgow to check into our hotel for the night.
Fancy ferry!
We were lucky to have smooth seas.
Ludo’s digs.
Modern touches.
Our tour guide in the gardens.
The conclusion I reached, after 10 days of all this history, is that England was a total dick for most of human history.
Welcome to Glasgow!
A sunny day in Scotland!!
This is the Duke of Wellington. Since the 1980s he has been capped with a traffic cone by the locals.
Dinner!
The Highlands / Inverness
The next day, we drove from Glasgow to the Highlands. Loch Ness monster country, if you believe in that kinda thing.
Good morning from our hotel in Glasgow.
Loch country!
A little town that we stopped in… I can’t remember the name.
But it was sunny and warm and I was in a good mood.
Waiting for our boat.
Our tour guide, Titanic’ing.
Jeanne, on a boat and thoroughly unimpressed.
I think the clouds look like Nessie. Can you see it?
Our sweet friends, Tommy and Ann
Jeanne and Tommy loved to talk politics and economics and all that jazz.
I’m on a boat!
Back on land, Gerry stopped the bus so we could see some hairy coos!
The next morning we were back on the bus, heading to Clava Cairns.
Clava Cairns is a well-preserved Bronze Age cemetery complex of graves. 4000 years old!
“All of this for two people? The effort to put all of these stones together in a circle for two people?” – Jeanne
“This place is a lawsuit waiting to happen.” – Jeanne, while walking on the bumps and tree roots and rocks.
Up next: Culloden Battlefield!
The Battle of Culloden is one of the most significant events in Scottish history. It occurred on April 16th, 1746. The battle marked the end of the Jacobite Rising, a period of Scottish history characterized by political unrest and rebellion against the British government. The battle was brutal. The Jacobites were out-numbered and their military strategy was questionable at best. They lost big time. The defeat marked the beginning of a period of repression and persecution against the Scottish people. The British government passed a series of laws that banned the wearing of traditional Highland dress, the playing of bagpipes, and the speaking of Gaelic. In short… ooooof.
Back in Inverness, we had some time to ourselves. Bless. So we went to the mall.
And went to a whisky tasting with our tour group, even those neither of us drinks whisky.
Blair Castle, St. Andrews, & Edinburgh
The next day, we started with a stop at Blair Castle, then drove to St. Andrews and finally to Edinburgh.
Blair Castle is the ancestral home of the Murray clan — and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl.
But being the immature group of exhausted tourists that we were, we kept saying “asshole” with a lisp.
Casual dining.
Calm down, men.
Jeanne: “A little bagpiping goes a long way. ”
Me: “She’s only been playing for 5 minutes.”
Jeanne: “Exactly.”
Up next: St. Andrews, the home of golf. We sure did miss Denny when we were here.
This is Jet. He was very snuggly.
Where the sea meets the golf.
And finally, we made it to Edinburgh. Deep, content sigh. The nicest hotel! Also, as you will learn MANY times over if you visit Edinburgh, it is pronounced “Ed-in-bruh”
There was a rainbow light control for the show. CLEARLY I WAS IN HEAVEN!
If you want red shower vibes!
The next morning we went to Edinburgh Castle. And this was our sweet tour guide.
I should note that Jeanne skipped most of this day because it was raining. And Jeanne does not do the rain. Even though this was basically our only real day of rain.
The side with the narrow bricks was for the horses to walk on — it would be less slippery in the rain and therefore safer for the horses and their riders.
Did you know that the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland? True story!
A view of the “poop emoji hotel” – how could the architects not see that?!
This is the Midlothian Heart. It marked the position of a 15th century Tolbooth which was a prison and site of public execution.
Where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book.
Greyfriars Bobby Memorial
Legend has it that Bobby (a Skye Terrier) guarded his owner’s grave for 14 years. And when Bobby died he was buried at the entrance of Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, not far from his owner’s grave. People bring sticks to Bobby’s grave.
And this should come as no surprise to you: this was my favorite part of Edinburgh
Victoria Street is said to have been the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter
And then in was time for our farewell dinner. Time flies when you’re on a bus. ;)
Adios, tour fam.
And also, I will never ever ever fly through London Heathrow again if I can help it. We BARELY made our flight home because of how f*cked that airport is — and we arrived 3 hours ahead, so that was not the issue!
Peace out, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. You are a truly magical part of the world with the friendliest people.