In nine days we leave for our Road Scholar Trip: In the Heart of the Scottish Highlands The itinerary is pretty full so I have no idea whether I'll actually blog the trip or not, but if I do, this is where it will be. (Click “Read more” to see links) Our Itinerary May 27-30 Stay: Voco Hotel Royal Terrace - Edinburgh Two days to explore on our own; the tour proper starts May 30 May 30 - Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood House May 31 - June 4 Stay Ben Wyvis Hotel in Strathpeffer May 31 - Dunkeld and the Highland Folk Museum June 1 Culloden Battlefield and Cawdor Castle June 2 The Black Isle , Groam House Museum , Fortrose Cathedral June 3 Aigas Field Center and Inverness June 4 Urqhart Castle , Loch Ness , Glen Affric June 5-7 Stay at Isles of Glencoe Hotel June 5 Loch Ness Cruise June 6 Isle of Skye, Eilean Donan , Armadale Castle June 7 The Isles of Mull and Iona; lunch will be at "a charming hotel on Iona" June 8 Stay at Doubletree Hotel in Edinburgh June 8...
Our tour is run by Road Scholar and yesterday we emphasized the SCHOLAR part of the name. Our first group activity of the day was a lecture on the Highland Clearances (~1750 -1860. You only signed up for a travel blog so I’ll leave you to look up the clearances yourself if you’re interested, but combined with the Jacobite rebellion it makes me think that peoples have LONG memories of times when they were oppressed. (And we seem to quickly forget times when we’re doing the oppressing). After lunch we headed out to the Black Isle which was one of the first parts of Scotland to experience the clearances where we: Toured the village of Cromarty and went to a wee museum focusing of Pictish artifacts and got a talk from a local expert on the Picts. Then we briefly stopped for a photo op of the ruins of Fortrose Cathedral before heading home. Carnegie Library in Cromarty After dinner we were treated to a bagpipe demonstration at the hotel. To tell you the truth I hadn’t been ...
We arrived Madison airport 11:30 am, eager to start our adventures. Something unusual happened. Both our flights left on time. We had sufficient room under the seats in front of us for our backpacks. We had plenty of leg room! In the seven hour long flight, they served us two meals. There are rumors going around that we even got a little sleep on that flight. Nothing went wrong during the whole journey. When we landed in Edinburgh, there were reporters there wanting to interview us about this unheard of trip across the ocean. After we dropped our suitcases at the hotel, we went out to explore the city. If you know us at all, you won’t be surprised at our first stop. . I seem to be constitutionally incapable of entering a bookstore without doing my bit for the local economy. I bought one book about the BBC during World War II and another about Victorian and Edwardian Railway travel. When I’ve finished reading them, they are available for loan, but speak up quickly, It’s first come ...
If you visit Flora McDonald's grave on Skye, please leave a stone for me.
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