Maritime Jewels of the British Isles - Aberdeen and Edinburgh

Scotland - Aberdeen, and Edinburgh

Alas, this is the final installment of this trip.  I know you're sad, I am too!  We finished our trip with stops in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and a side trip to St. Andrews (a holy place for golf fanatics!)




Aberdeen

Our first stop was Aberdeen, which we knew next to nothing about.  We had a city tour which included the University of Aberdeen.  It was a beautiful campus.


"Youth with a Split Apple"

One of the university gates.


Highland Cows

We also drove out to a farm in the highlands to see the famous Highland cows.  We were greeted by a wee lass playing the bagpipes.  This was followed by a tour of the farm and a close-up look at the cows.  The gal that runs the farm breeds the cows for both show and sales (for the meat).  Not only was the farm interesting, but the highland scenery was fantastic.  I didn't get to shoot any photos of the scenery, but I sure would enjoy going back someday to do some landscape photography!

A wee lass with a bagpipe.

The owner of the farm with one of her prize Highland cows.


Back on board ship, we had our farewell dinner and a surprise birthday celebration for Kathy.  This was on the 24th of June and her birthday is the 26th, but they were gracious enough to celebrate a bit early.

Fireworks and a cake!

 Edinburgh

Our final stop was Edinburgh.  We left the ship with mixed feelings; we were excited to see Edinburgh but sad to leave the friendly ship's crew.  Edinburgh included a city tour and some time spent at the National Museum of Scotland.  It was also great fun to try some of the local restaurants, including a pub where we tried some local Haggis.

The National Museum of Scotland.

We tried the Haggis and had a friendly talk with this gal and her boyfriend.  He assured us that his granny made better Haggis!

One of the interesting features of Edinburgh is the small byways they call closes.  The image below is a sculpture from the entryway to Bailie Fyfe's close.

Bailie Fyfe's Close.

The close collapsed in 1861 and an eight-year-old lad was buried in the rubble.  The workers were about to give up on finding survivors when they heard "Heave awa, chaps, I'm no deid yet".  The young man survived and is remembered in this carving over the entrance to the rebuilt close.

St. Andrews

Penny and Joe are avid golfers.  They wanted to visit St. Andrews and we decided to join them.  We took a day trip out of Edinburgh which included stops in several small towns along the way.  St. Andrews is a holy shrine for golfers and well worth the trip!

One of the fishing villages on the coast near St. Andrews.

Penny and Joe on the bridge going to the 18th green.

The 18th green and the clubhouse.

We met some nice folks on this trip, eat some very good food, drank some beer, wine, and whisky.  I love all the British Isles but was most surprised at how much I enjoyed Scotland.  We did not have enough time in Edinburgh or the highlands.  It is on our list for a return visit!

Click on over to my Google Photos for more images from this portion of the trip: Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

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