After a crazy 7 weeks apart, the boibs were finally back together!
Hooray! We had one busy day of catching up in Rotterdam before jetting to
Scotland which included admin (blah!), a photo expo, lunch at Hotel New York,
the new Wolverine movie (Hugh Jackman!) and dinner with our friends Claire and
Joppe. Then it was time for our two week Scottish holiday!
We arrived in Glasgow early on Sunday morning and after checking into
our hotel, still had plenty of time to explore. We headed into the city to see
what we could find. First stop was the Willow Tea Rooms for a spot of tea and
lunch. Designed by Scottish architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the
Willow Tea Rooms opened in October 1903 and are the most famous of the 19th
century Glasgow tea rooms. Whilst in the UK, we indulged in all the English
foods we missed, like scones and pies and Sunday roast. But particularly
scones! And this was our first scone stop.
We continued down the Style Mile and it was not long before we had our
first taste of Scottish bagpipes. We stumbled upon the band Clanadonia playing
in the streets of Glasgow. Dressed in kilts, pronounced ‘kelts’, and with long
dreadlocks, this is a drums and pipe band with a difference! Extremely passionate
and fiery and a pleasure to watch, Clanadonia are real entertainers. We really
enjoyed the addition of tribal drums to the bagpipes, maybe that’s just Africa
in us coming out. We were to see many a piper over the coming two weeks but
this group stands out as the best. Check out this youtube clip to see what we
mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7LegOP7z0o.
Clanadonia performing on the streets of Glasgow
Statue of Wellington outside the Gallery of Modern Art
We had a lovely afternoon wandering around town and landed up at Glasgow
Cathedral and the necropolis at the end of town. Walking back it was time to
find some dinner. Coming to Scotland we expected to see a lot of castles,
bagpipes and highland cows. But not an Indian restaurant on every corner!
Glasgow could seriously give Durban a run for its money with the number of
Indian eateries. We finally chose a suitable looking one and had a lovely meal
with the biggest naan bread we have ever seen! Bron is not a huge curry fan but
the waiter helped her choose a very mild creamy curry which they made even
milder for her and it was absolutely delicious! We highly recommend trying
Akbar’s in Glasgow even if you aren’t a big curry fan.
Monday was our first full day on holiday and time to take it slow. Our hotel
was on the edge of the city but close to the museums and university. In the morning
we took a walk past Glasgow University up to the botanical gardens and enjoyed
a cup of tea and a scone after walking around the various greenhouses. After tea,
we ambled down to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. We enjoyed the
display of Scottish wildlife and the display on the life and work of Charles
Rennie Mackintosh. The museum’s most famous piece is Christ of Saint John of
the Cross by Dali which caused a lot of controversy at the time of its purchase
in the early 1950’s. We both liked the piece but can appreciate how different
it must have been at the time.
At the botanical gardens
The Kelvingrove and its immaculate bowling greens
Our two nights in Glasgow were up and time to move onto our next stop:
Oban. But first a day of sightseeing on the way!
Our route went along picturesque Loch Lomond passing through Balmaha and
Luss on opposite sides of the lake before crossing the Trossachs mountain range
to Inverary. On the way to Luss we passed a Bird of Prey Centre and decided to
stop off and take a look. We loved the fuzzy owls of all sizes, the impressive
eagle, hawks, falcons and other birds at this centre. The staff were very
friendly and so enthusiastic, answering all our questions and telling us all the
intricacies about flying these ‘bods’. Inverary looked like a lovely quaint
seaside town and it is a pity we didn’t have more time to explore here. We didn’t
have time for Inverary Castle either, it just isn’t possible to visit every
castle in Scotland. (For Downton Abbey fans, the Summer holiday with the
Scottish relatives was filmed here.) There was only time for a quick view of
Inverary castle and then it was on to Oban and the Scottish Highlands!
View over Loch Lomond from Balmaha
Boibs at Balmaha
Fishing boats at Balmaha
Furry friend at the Bird of prey Centre
Views to be had in the Trossoch's area
Thistles in flower
Inverary Castle
Our GPS, Kate, chose to stop working when we left Inverary, and if it
wasn’t for the good old fashioned directions the guest house had emailed us, we
would still be looking for our accommodation in Oban! Nice work Kate.
Fortunately she only needed a good night’s sleep and a reboot in the morning
and she was as good as new. We did have one more incident with her but she
always came round. Eventually.
We loved our time in Oban. It is a beautiful seaside holiday town and an
excellent base for exploring from. We stayed at the Old Manse Guesthouse with
the super friendly hosts Anne and Simon. Thanks for an awesome stay! It was the
best of our holiday.
Our first day in Oban dawned bright and clear so we scooted off early to
get tickets for the Three Isles Tour. From Oban we caught a ferry to Craignure
on the Isle of Mull where a bus was waiting to take us across the island to Fionnphort.
On this bus ride we saw the only red deer we were to see on the holiday. At
Fionnphort we caught a boat to the Isle of Staffa. It was at this point that
the weather changed. It began to rain and continued to rain for most of the remainder
of our time in Oban.
Views from the ferry crossing from Oban to Craignure
Red deer on Mull
Staffa is a small remote island well known for its cave and basalt
columns. We had about an hour to expore Staffa before heading back on the
rickety boat to Iona. Staffa is quite wild with beautiful views over the ocean
and back toward the mainland. Once on Iona, we grabbed a bite to eat and then
went to explore Iona Abbey. Iona Abbey was founded by Saint Columba in AD 563.
It has a remarkable history and is a very sacred place. The first High Cross
was carved here and the Book of Kell’s, now housed at Trinity College in
Dublin, were written here. These sacred manuscripts were moved from Iona to Ireland
for safe keeping during a period of Viking raids. A short stroll around Iona
and it was back on the ferry to Fionnphort, then the bus to Craignure and the
last ferry to Oban. It was a long day out with a lot of travelling but well worth
it.
On Staffa
Fingel's Cave
The boat waiting to take us back to Iona
Iona Abbey
High Cross at Iona Abbey
The cloister at Iona Abbey
On Iona
On our second day in Oban, we stayed local and explored the town. We
started with McCaig’s tower near our accommodation before heading into town. McCaig’s
tower is built of Bonawe granite and has a circumference of 200 metres. It was
commissioned by John Stuart McCaig as a long lasting monument to his family and
to keep the stone masons employed during the winter months. It was intended to
be a museum and art gallery but was not completed after his death.
View from inside McCaig's Tower
From McCaig’s tower, we strolled into town and then across the bay along
the shoreline to Dunollie Castle, home of the chiefs of clan MacDougall. Not
much of the castle remains, but the old farmhouse is well cared for and
showcases the history of the MacDougall family and clan. Then it was tea time! We
indulged in scones and waffles at the Oban Chocolate Company.
The weather had been rolling in off the sea all day and where better to
hide from the rain than the local whisky distillery? We really enjoyed the tour
at the distillery learning how single malt whisky is made. Oban whisky has 4
distinct flavours, or so they say; smoke from the peat, sea salt, orange and
honey. It was interesting walking around the distillery discovering where the
different flavours came from. At the beginning of the tour you can’t smell
anything, somewhere in the middle there is a really strong orange smell but by
the end it is gone again. We got to taste the 14 year old whisky straight from
the barrel before it is watered down to the desired alcohol content of 43 %
before bottling and the final product. We really enjoyed our tour here and
highly recommend it!
A not so sunny Oban bay
And then it was time to move onto the Isle of Skye.
More of our Socttish Adventure next time! Hope you’ve had a good week!
x
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