Scotland

Scotland has been on my travel list for a long time. My fascination started with the Harry Potter movies. Many of the outdoor scenes were filmed in the Scottish Highlands, and I fell in love with the beautiful mountains and lakes. My interest only grew with the book & subsequent TV series Outlander (if you know you know). I was fascinated with Scottish history, including the fight against English rule and the Jacobite rebellion. I was so excited when we were able to add Scotland to our itinerary.

We flew from Norway into Edinburgh and checked into our hotel, which was right off the Royal Mile, the main thoroughfare of the old city. We hiked Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano at the base of the Royal Mile, which gave us panoramic views of the city.

As we walked back to the city, we noticed that some of the streets were blocked off and there were films crews around. We were ushered past these areas by security guards and realized that we were walking in a movie set. After some asking around and google searching, we discovered it was Guillermo del Toro's newest movie, 'Frankenstein'. The old city made a perfect backdrop for the 1800's- all they had to do was bring in mulch and some horses!

The next day, we took a tour of the Edinburgh castle, which was fascinating. Although there are much more architecturally impressive castles elsewhere, the history of Edinburgh castle is what makes it special. I won't even begin to get into a brief Scottish history lesson- there is no such thing.

My absolute favorite thing in Edinburgh, hands down, was the Surgeons' Hall Museum at the Edinburgh Royal College of Surgeons.

The museum started as a collection of interesting and educational medical specimens, the earliest from the 1700's. Some of the most important advances in surgery have come from The Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. Curiously, it also had a lasting impact on English Literature.

The Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle was first a physician. He received a Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery qualifications in 1881, followed by his MD in 1885. The character 'Sherlock Holmes' is based off Dr Joseph Bell, a former professor of Doyle's at the University of Edinburgh. Bell's attention to detail and use of deductive reasoning in coming to a diagnosis was the inspiration for Holmes' crime solving skills. I have a distinct memory of having a Sherlock Holmes phase when I was 8 years old. I honestly don't know where it came from, as I can't imagine I read the books when I was that young. I do remember asking the librarian in Ottawa, Canada for books on Sherlock Holmes, as I wanted to write a biography for a school project. You can imagine my disappointment when I realized that he was a fictional character. But I digress... back to the museum!

It was absolutely incredible. There was a fascinating exhibit on the history of surgery and how various members of the Royal College of Surgeons advanced the practice.

There was a strict policy against photography of the exhibits, which is understandable. I share this because it is a wax cast of a bone tumor- not the real thing (although they had scores of them).

There were rooms and rooms of pathology specimens- tumors of all and any organs imaginable, congenital malformations, aortic aneurysms, you name it. I can't show any pictures of those, but trust me, it was amazing. After a few minutes of me excitedly explaining another specimen to William, he kindly told me, "Take as long as you want. I'll be over on the couch when you're finished". I wandered through the exhibits, pointing and gasping to myself like an insane person. As we left the museum, I asked William eagerly if he liked it. He turned to me and said, "I liked it because of how much you liked it. It was like watching a kid in a candy store." In truth, he was grossed out, like 99% of the population would be when looking at a section of severed lung in a jar. I was grateful that he endured it for me.

Also, there was a really cool door at the College of Surgeons entrance.

The next morning, we picked up a rental car and started the six-hour drive to the Isle of Skye.

On the way, we stopped at Eilean Donan castle, a previous clan home turned museum in the Highlands.

Next, we headed into the Isle of Skye, which was absolutely spectacular. The landscape is lush and green, and the rock formations are almost otherworldly.

We stayed at an inn in Flodigarry, near the very top of the Island. While the Isle of Skye doesn't look that big, it takes quite a while to drive. All the roads are narrow, with many of them being one-lane roads with pull-over spots. When you spot another car coming, you have to awkwardly decide who has the closest pull-over spot and either reverse or advance the car to reach it. William once again rented a manual car, which made this slightly more complex. Traffic jams aside, the drive was beautiful. The Isle of Skye is also notoriously expensive and has no major hotel chains. Therefore, we rented an attic room in a cottage built in the 1700's at the inn. It was the perfect size for me- not for William.

The food was incredible at the inn. We had a 'full Scottish breakfast' in the morning, which is like a full English breakfast but includes haggis and blood pudding. The haggis was actually quite good- the flavor was rich and savory. I could not get behind the blood pudding though- the texture really put me off. In the picture, the haggis is on the left side of the plate, the blood pudding in the middle, and a potato scone on the right.

The next day we hiked the Quiraing, an area on the north of Skye with unique rock formations. I wanted to do this hike mostly because of the alliteration with our last name (the Quirions hike the Quiraing). It turned out to be one of my favorite hikes this whole trip.

An example of one of the rock formations- so cool!

With William for scale:

I loved this picture because you can see a sheep grazing on top of one of the cliffs. I wonder if the sheep knows how beautiful his home is.

After this, we drove to the western coast of Skye, where we visited Dunvegan castle, home of the MacLeod clan for the last 800 years.

The castle is on the ocean, and there is a seal colony that has lived near the castle for generations. We took a small boat out on the water to take a closer look at the seals.

A little difficult to see, but there are a few seals sunning themselves on a kelp bed.

After two nights on the Isle of Skye, we headed back to the mainland and south to Fort William. Of course, I had to get a picture of William with the Fort William sign.

On the drive, we saw our first Highland cows (you know, the shaggy ones). I was very excited and snapped a picture. The cow's 'bangs' make me laugh.

We did a short hike called Steall falls in the Fort William area. There was a rope bridge across the river, which William tackled but I was too short for :)

Our accommodation in Fort William was the Inverlochy castle, a boutique hotel partnered with Hilton that William booked on a free night certificate. It was by far the coolest place either of us have ever stayed. The rooms were massive and kept to the late 1800's style. The food was absolutely incredible.

There was even a rowboat on a pond that we took out. We had an incredible view of Ben Nevis (the tallest mountain in the UK) in the background.

The next day we drove back to Edinburgh, passing through Glen Coe on the way. This glen (valley) is beyond beautiful. Some of the Harry Potter scenes were filmed here, as well as the James Bond movie Skyfall.

We did a short hike but didn't have a whole lot of time before we needed to drop off our rental car. We spent one final night in Edinburgh and then took the morning train to London.

In Edinburgh, I took this picture of a church that we drove by:

The sign says "A chance to blether and make friends or just enjoy a change of scene. All welcome, no commitment."

I just love the idea, the blue doors, and the word 'blether'.

Here is a map of the whole trip over five days, starting and ending in Edinburgh.

Our time in Scotland surpassed my expectations. We were incredibly lucky with the weather- although it rained on and off, the days that we hiked and explored outdoors were gorgeous. I would definitely go back!!!