I think what I'm going to do to document these past few weeks is write at least two blog entries about everything, or maybe three. I'll start with the Isle of Skye. The Isle of Skye is up in the highlands of Scotland, and my study aboard program, IFSA-Butler, had a trip up there for a weekend in April. We left early on a Friday morning, and drove north until we reached our little motel on the Isle of Skye. We stopped at the Battlefield of Culloden, the last battle on British soil, on the way. We stayed in a town called Kyleakin (say kuh-lack-in) on the Isle, it was so small and cute. People were saying it reminded them of being in Alaska. It was beautiful with all of the lochs and cliffs. The town consisted of an Inn, a convenience store and two pubs. We hung out at one pub at night, along with most of the kids in my program, probably freaking out the people that live in this town. There were so many of us and it was fun to hang out with the locals. We were also sort of staying on a beach, even though it was cold. Still very pretty.
On Saturday we visited Armadale Castle, home of the Clan Donald. It was a castle ruin, but the grounds were very pretty. Lots of gardens and ponds. We took some pictures in some of the ruins there. Then they gave us an option of either a hike or a sightseeing tour on the bus. Obviously we chose the sightseeing tour, haha. In the past, choosing a hike on an IFSA-Butler trip, even if they say it will be very low maintenance and easy, it ends up being really intense. So we saw some waterfalls and some amazing cliffs over the ocean on the bus tour. I'll post pictures below. Our tour guide told us some great stories about the clans who lived on the Isle of Skye, there were two that were always battling, the Donalds and the MacLeods. He told us a Romeo and Juliet sort of story about two young people from each clan who fell in love, only to end in tragedy. Specifically she got her eye poked out and then her sweetheart wouldn't marry her, because she was no longer beautiful. To be fair, our tour guide could have been making this all up, haha. At the end of the day, he told us a story about a fairy river that we were going to visit. There are lots of fairies on the Isle of Skye, according to legend. But this particular fairy river, at Sligachan, has magical properties. Our tour guide told us if you put your face in the water for 7 seconds (no more, no less) you will be youthful forever! But then, you have to come back every year and dip your face in the water to renew your youth, this was our guide's way of bribing us to come back to Skye after this trip, haha. So of course we dipped our faces in, and the water wasn't even too cold!
On Sunday, we left the Isle of Skye and stopped on the way back to Edinburgh at Eilean Donan castle, which is absolutely breathtaking. And someone lives there! Crazy. So we couldn't go in or anything. After that, we headed to Loch Ness, specifically to Fort Augustus, a town right on the Loch. No sign of Nessie, but the loch was huge. And really cold. Apparently it's 744 feet deep at it's deepest point! The trip was great, I'm glad I got to take a break from my essays and go up there. Some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Most of April involved me writing three 3,500 word essays. I couldn't wait to be done. The day they were due, after I turned them in on campus, me and Becca went to Glasgow to do some shopping, because they have a Primark, which is like the UK version of Forever 21. Becca needed a new purse, and I was tagging along for shopping and lunch. And to see a little bit more of Glasgow. It's a bigger city than Edinburgh, and I really liked it. Very pretty, and lots of shopping =] Didn't hurt that it was such a beautiful day. We took the train there and back, and it only cost 7 pounds (like $12). The trains here are really great, a very smooth ride and they get you places in less than half the time. And the ride is usually very pretty as well. With lots of sheep, heh.
 |
| Culloden Battlefield |
 |
| View from the beach near our inn |
 |
| That's the pub we hung out in on the right |
 |
| Ruins near Armadale Castle |
 |
| Grounds of Armadale Castle |
 |
| Cliffs over the ocean |
 |
| They wanted you to be careful, ha |
 |
| Becoming more youthful! ha |
 |
| Eilean Donan castle |
 |
| Loch Ness! |
Man, this sounds like the coolest place. The last battle on British soil was so ling ago! That surprised me. This is maybe the place I'm most jealous I didn't get to see. This is what I think of when I think Scotland. So awesome.
ReplyDeleteI love the fairy ("fairie") river thing. That area is literally where many of my favorite stories & legends take place, it' so crazy that you were THERE. A small part of me, after you said he could be maybe making stuff up, wondered if they dip your face in the water thing is just to get tourists to do something silly. But knowing too much about the myths up there I can say that's very unlikely, as that sounds like something right out of the tales.
Also I think I've said this before but oh man I want that cliff sign as a t-shirt!
Also holy cats you have gotten amazing at taking photos.
<3