Trip to Scotland

We are just back from our first real holiday in the UK. We visited Edinburgh and parts of the Scottish Highlands. Be it the natural scenery of the Highlands or the old streets of Edinburgh Scotland has a something for every traveler.

We stayed on a house located right at the heart of the Royal Mile,  Edinburgh. Having arrived by mid day we decided to spend the day taking in the local sights and sounds.

Our first walk around the mile proved quite amusing. There were all sorts of street artists and local shopkeepers who were beginning to paint the streets in a canvas of their own.

We then took a drive to Portobello beach. It was fantastic to walk down the shore after such a long time. After playing in the seashore for some time we then  headed back to take a peak into some of the shops in nearby area to see what Scotland had to offer.

Our next day began early for we were taking a day long tour of the Highlands. The tour started promptly by 8 AM and the first leg covered a drive through the Cairngorm mountains. The first halt bought us to a viewpoint that looked more like computer graphics than reality! The stunning view of the lake by the foothill of a small mountain looked extremely picturesque.

We proceeded to Inverness, the capital of the Highlands. Throughout the ride, the guide of the tour kept telling about the Scotland of the past – the history, culture, mysteries, famous personalities (there were a few), celebrities, current news and what not. But as a general trend the topics came back mostly to the wars with the enemy (read England)!

We took the optional boat ride around the Loch (Lake) Ness after a quick snack. The climate was not that good, so we had to keep to the boat most of the time. Ben Navis was next and this was followed by a drive via Glen Coe and the guide was quite narrative when telling us about the massacre that took place here ages ago.

The scenery continued to look captivating through the next set of way points as well and so were the stories. The tour drew to a crescendo when covering the Battle of Stirling and its heroes.