The next day, Karl picked us up at our
hotel and we were off in our adventure for the day. Karl started off
by taking us to visit the Glenfiddich Distillery for a tour of how
Scotch is made in Scotland. On the way we took us to a small site
that felt like it was in the middle of nowhere, the Maiden Stone. Apparently there is a myth that this stone was created when the Devil
chased a maiden and touched her on the shoulder (where there is a
notch), turning her to stone. Karl made note that this stone, made
of a pink granite, had to have been drug about 60 miles by the
Pictish in order to be placed at this location since only grey
granite was in this area. Don't really believe in the Devil Myth, but it really makes you think of the effort
that had to be put in for these things to be made and placed where they were..
Then after a little more driving, we
reached the Glenfiddich Distillery. This was an especially neat
distillery because not only do they give you a brief video and a
fairly detailed tour of the facility, but it's FREE! It is neat
getting a perspective of what goes into the process of making Scotch.
From the barrels, to the malt and the distillation process itself.
There is even a neat and tasty little cafe that is located at the
distillery where you can enjoy a coffee and scone while you wait.
Once our tour of Glenfiddich was
complete we started our trek towards Loch Ness. Alone the way Karl
stopped us at another interesting Pictish historical site. The
Balnuaran of Clava, a prehistoric cemetary or set of cairns. 
In
reality, resembling a trio of stone mounds but it oddly reminds me of the
burrows from Lord of the Rings. And definitely interesting when you
consider the history of the site. As an added bonus, there is a
quite beautiful view of a nearby train bridge that spans the valley
the cairns reside in. Definitely a worthwhile stop.
When we got to Loch Ness, we stopped
along the road that runs parallel to the loch for pictures. After
that we headed to the Jacobite Loch Ness boat tour to take the boat
from the main visitor center along Loch Ness to Castle Urquhart where
we spent the rest of our time at Loch Ness wandering around Urquhart
ruins to see what that fort used to look like. 
It definitely had a
beautiful view of the loch, especially as the sun went down.
Following Loch Ness we drove home where Karl stopped at a couple of
scenic overlooks for a photograph opportunities. All of which were
beautiful.
For dinner we ended up going to Jamie's
Italian restaurant, since almost nothing seems to be open after 9pm
for dinner. We wandered around Belmont street after dinner to see
what was going on for the night life. We ended up stopping at
Slaine's Castle bar again for a beer as they were closing shop and
took the time to read more of the ghost stories posted on the wall.
Our last day in Scotland was simply
spend wandering around our home base of Aberdeen. We walked by the
statue of William Wallace for photographs, as well as the park that
is right next to it. We then headed to eat a Full English breakfast
at a local greasy spoon, sit down joint called Cafe Roza.
It was delicious start to the day. After breakfast we continued
wandering around and looking at the local city. We stopped at the
Tolbooth, near the Mercat Cross in the square. It was an interesting
stop to learn about the detainment of past prisoners and offenders.
After that we had lunch at The Blackfriar to round out and finish off
our trip of Aberdeen. Then we picked up our luggage at the hotel and
went to the airport for a safe and uneventful flight back to Germany.
No comments:
Post a Comment