Scotland

    Edinburgh looks like a beautiful Christmas village, complete with cobblestone streets, charming little shops, and brick facades. Everything there felt so cozy and warm, and I can only imagine how beautiful it is in the winter around the holidays. It was my favorite city I'd been to so far on our trip.

                                                   (A view from the streets of Edinburgh)  

    We stayed in a hostel called "Staycity", which was surprisingly awesome, and a lot better than our hostel experience in Dublin. We shared a room with just the four of us, and after some exploration, found an amazing bar/cafeteria area downstairs that was sleek and modern, a sharp contrast to everything else in Edinburgh. This was a perfect place to take a couple hours to just relax. Packing Ireland, Scotland, and England into one trip was daunting, and it felt like we were constantly on the go and desperate to take in as much as we could. It was also Matt's 29th birthday that day, plus my hip was still injured from my torn ligament, so relaxing was what we needed.
    After lunch and drinks (by the pitcher), we hung out in our room, breaking away now and then to wander outside and so some shopping. I found a charming little Christmas shop, where I purchased some decorations for the house I knew I'd have one day. We also bought Matt a kilt and some of the traditional fixings for it because he'd felt a strong connection with his family's clan (the McKinneys) since before we arrived. After shopping, it was time for a nap in our room again before going on a Ghost Tour of Edinburgh.
    The Ghost Tour is worth the money. Not only did we get to hear the history of certain areas in Edinburgh, we also got to see parts of the city we would never have wandered into. The tour was all on foot, taking us through cemeteries, down dark alleys, and underground into Edinburgh's vaults. It was creepy and cool. The vaults were stifling with very little airflow - I can't imagine staying down there for an extended period of time.
     The Ghost Tour was followed by dinner at an Indian restaurant - we thought we'd mix things up. It was awful food. Awful. Our waiter also refused to give us the food we ordered, insisting that Lynee and I choose something "nicer" than what we asked for. The result was food we couldn't get through. It turned out to be the most expensive meal we'd had on our trip yet. Lesson learned: while in the UK, eat at the pubs.
      The next day was a lot of driving. We went up the East coast towards Aberdeen and saw some castles, and drove deep into the highlands. This was the best scenery of the entire trip. Words cannot describe how amazingly beautiful, rugged, and wild the Highlands are, and this is coming from a girl who lives in an area dominated by the Rocky Mountains.

(On a cliff's edge outside Dunnottar Castle)

(The ruins of Dunnottar Castle, a once impregnable fortress)

(A random lighthouse we found while driving up the coast)

(The beginning of the ascent into the Highlands. The forests are amazing)

    After driving up into the Highlands for a couple of hours, the landscape becomes hauntingly beautiful and eerie. Fog and mist cling to everything, and sometimes you can't see more than forty feet in front of you. Randomly the fog breaks, and you catch views of steep hills dotted with heather and ferns. It is unforgiving terrain, and not where we wanted to be stuck once it started to get dark. We decided to look for a place to stay, but Scotland is a lot more remote than Ireland. We drove and drove for hours without seeing much more than misty hills and wet valleys.
    We finally found a Bed & Breakfast, situated in the middle of a foggy valley dominated on either side by hills. The place was so creepy that Lynee and I didn't dare go anywhere without the other, and we subtly told the boys we were NOT staying. The place was so remote, no one would hear you scream. And the caretaker was something else.
    After more driving, we finally got to Inverness, which is unofficially the capital of the Highlands. We found a B&B ran by an adorable grandmother and her grandson. They were the nicest people I've ever met, and their home was beautiful and cozy. They made a grand Scottish breakfast for us in the morning before we drove to Loch Ness.
    I don't know if I've seen B-rate horror movies or if the legends just got to me, but I imagined Loch Ness to be a murky, deep pool. It was stunning.

                                                               (Incredible Loch Ness)

(Lynee and I enjoying the landscape around the loch)

(Matt walking up the shore of Loch Ness)

(Rugged Highlands)

    After Loch Ness was one of the things we'd been looking forward to most - the Eilean Donan Castle, the seat of Matt's clan. It is situated on the far shore of a vast loch, surrounded by mountains and some of the most magnificent scenery I've ever seen.

                                               (Matt and I in front of his clan's castle)

                                                                         (Eilean Donan)

     The Eilean Donan castle was one of those experiences that encourages me to talk to locals. Matt struck up a conversation with one of the castle's caretakers, who looked like a real life Bard. It turned out he knew all about Matt's clan, and copied some information and books for him to take. He was able to give us so much information about his clan, and about how the clan functions in the modern day.
     We had one last grand adventure left in that day, and one that we'd been waiting for. The Fairy Pools.
     Those babies are not easy to find. We drove to the Isle of Skye, which is in the upper left edge of Scotland and reachable only by bridge or boat. Once on the Isle, which is deceptively large, we drove for a long time in steep, rugged mountains looking for the unmarked pools. We finally ended up asking, and after a little more failure and doubling back, we reached the pools. They are snuggled in an open valley between large mountains, and the valley floor is dotted with so much more color than you think you'd find in a grassy plain. Purple heather, yellow and red ferns, green and darker green grass, brown and golden autumnal foliage...it was amazing. And then there were the pools.

(The Fairy Pools)

(A group photo in front of the many waterfalls)

(One of the most romantic, beautiful places on earth)

(Surrounded by mountains)

(More waterfalls)

(Crystal clear, green & turquoise water)

(A shot from a cliff overhanging the pools)

(More waterfalls)

(The Isle of Skye)

    We knew it wouldn't get much better than that. We headed back to Edinburgh, exhausted, images of misty hills and foggy lochs in our heads. Scotland was everything I hoped it would be.

Ireland, September, 2013: Part Two

          We knew Northern Ireland was going to be difficult to beat because of how beautiful it was, so expectations were low when we headed West. We woke up after a great night at our first bed and breakfast, ate an enormous “Irish breakfast”, then decided to stop just down the street at the oldest distillery in the world. I’m not a whisky drinker, but it was great to see the history of Bushmill’s. Plus, I had my first encounter with wildlife in the U.K. A ridiculously cute cat wandered up to me at the distillery. I sat with him the whole time while everyone else took a tour. 

         After the distillery, we headed to our first castle, Dunluce. It was amazing. Dunluce is perched at a cliff’s edge, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It’s mostly in ruins now, but it is easy to see how intricate the construction was. The nerd in me was analyzing the castle for weakness, thinking how difficult it would be to siege it because it is built on such dramatic slopes. Beneath the castle, accessible only from a steep slope within the inner wall, is the “Mermaid Cave”. After we looked around the castle for a while, we couldn’t help ourselves. The cave is famous because there are legends and alleged sightings of mermaids inside. We didn’t realize until after we’d been in there for an hour that there was a large sign telling people not to enter. I can understand why – it is steep, slick, and the tide is so incredibly strong. 

                               (The warning sign that we missed...and the entrance to the cave)

                                              (Matt and I in front of the Dunluce Castle ruins)

               (Charlie, Matt, and Lynee, midway down the descending staircase inside the outer wall)

                                     (Matt and Charlie in the cave...note how strong the tide is)

                                             (Matt and I at the mouth of the Mermaid Cave)

                                                                 (A view of the cave)

     The castle was amazing enough we could have stayed for a lot longer, but we had an appointment at 3:00 at Ireland’s School of Falconry, and we still had a long way to drive. Ireland is really not that big, but note to future travelers: if GPS tells you one hour, plan on an hour and a half. They calculate the distance as if you were going the full, recommended 80 – 100 km/hour. The roads are extremely narrow and they have abrupt twists – you are not going 80 km/hour. 3:00 began to near, and we were nowhere near Ashford Castle where the school is. So we decided to try to go to Falconry the next day, and explore instead. I’m very glad we did. We ran into a lot of ruined abbeys, drove down old country roads were we ran into herds of cows. And we found one abbey in particular that we got out and explored for a long time. It was amazing. Completely overgrown, surrounded by a graveyard and spectacular Irish countryside. We even found a tomb with human bones still in it. 

                        (The further South you drive, the more it looks like this. It got way foggy)

                                                           (A random abbey we found)

                     (The spectacular Irish countryside. View from the ruined abbey we explored)

                                                     (A tree growing from the abbey tower)

                                                  (The human skull we found inside a tomb)

                            (This happens in Ireland. We definitely weren't in Salt Lake anymore)

           We finally continued on and found Ashford Castle, but the School of Falconry was closed, so we just stayed in another B&B. We were having serious problems with cash. None of our debit/credit cards seemed to work at ATMs, and we found out quickly that most B&Bs don’t take cards. We’d find out a day later that in Europe, ATMs automatically withdraw from savings accounts instead of checking accounts like in the U.S. Easy fix J

            The next morning, we went to Ashford Castle in the hopes that we could reschedule our falconry. They were all booked up, but one of the falconers took pity on us and squeezed us in. We got a quick tour of the school, learned the differences in the way falcons, hawks, and owls hunt, and how meticulous they have to be about their diet. Even ¼ ounce change in body weight can render a hawk unable to fly successfully. They are weighed twice every day, their meals strictly monitored. I was finally handed a hawk, and it was love at first sight. Lynee took one as well, as it was ladies first, and then we hiked into the forest to go hunting. Falconry was AMAZING. Probably my favorite thing we did in Ireland. We took turns with the hawks, learning how to send them off, recall them, reward them, and test their maneuverability. They are incredible hunters. Our hawks were siblings, Andes (male) and Lima (female), and were only 14 weeks old, but fully grown. Their curiosity was the main indicator of age; they kept bringing us sticks and moss to show off. We spent an hour and a half with them before we finally returned to the castle. It was an experience that I highly recommend to anyone traveling in Western Ireland. 

                (The hawks sitting on their perches. They are lazy and sleep at least 18 hours a day)

                                                 (Matt, signaling a hawk to return to him)

                                                                  (Lima, the female)

                                                                  (Andes, the male)

                          (A close-up of their talons. Incredibly sharp, but they are careful with them)

                     (Andes, eating a mouse. Charlie looks fascinated and horrified at the same time)

                                                                (The beautiful Lima)

                                                (Matt, walking his hawk back to the school)

           After falconry, we hiked around the Burren, which is a natural area of wilderness with varying landscapes. The Burren would be a place to visit if you have lots of time – we did not, so the vast amount of hiking needed to see the really cool stuff wasn’t feasible. I’m glad we devoted little time to it, because it allowed us to spend more time at the Cliffs of Moher, which were spectacular. I’ve never seen another natural formation like this. There’s really no way to describe it, so here are some pictures. 

                                              (This is why there are no words to describe it)

                                                     (Charlie and Lynee at the cliffs)

                                                             (A view from the Burren)

                                                              (Matt and I at the cliffs)

                                                                   (Lynee and I)

                                                 (The little tower that guards the cliffs)

                                                                             (Matt)

                                                                          (In awe)


                   We drove a little further that day after the Cliffs and stayed in another B&B. The next day was our last full day in Ireland. We went to Blarney Castle. That was a really amazing place to go. It is so much taller than I imagined! The castle dominates the landscape, and it was a true eye-opened about the lifestyle people lived in those ages. The castle was tall, but the rooms were tiny, the staircases dangerous and winding. Blarney is in good enough shape that you can truly see each room and how it would have functioned. We toured it for quite a while before making our way to the top to kiss the famous Blarney Stone. Hopefully, we all have the luck of the Irish with us now J After that, we drove to Waterford, home of the famous crystal. The town wasn’t great, but the Waterford Crystal plant was pretty cool. Even better if you have thousands of dollars to blow on fancy crystal. We finally ended our day in Dublin so we could be near the airport for the following morning. 

                                                                     (Blarney Castle)

                                                              (Matt in the dungeons)

                                         (Matt, leaning down to kiss the famous Blarney Stone)

                                                    (The view from atop Blarney Castle)

                                                     (We took up arms on the battlements)

                                                   (From left: Lynee, Charlie, Matt, Me)

          That was our last full day in Ireland. The next morning, we would fly to Edinburgh, were more adventures await. I'll write about Scotland in my next blog!