Day 10 - July 21, 2022 - Aberdeen - Ballater

-

 Today was another travel day.  We move our base of operations from Inverness to Aberdeen on the east coast of Northern Scotland.  The distance is not great, but we progressed with several stops and activities along the way.

I realized this morning that I had not taken a photo of Inverness Castle.  So I did.  The photos below were taken from in front of our hotel in Inverness.  We were just across the river Ness from the castle.



There has been a castle on this site since 1057, the current one was of late construction in 1836.


We made a brief stop in the village of Carrbridge, population 707, to see of all things the Carr-Bridge.  Carrbridge is also famous because it hosts the National Porridge Competition annually, yes I am serious.



The Carr-Bridge is the oldest existing stone bridge in Scotland.




No fooling around with the Scotch. NO FOULING!


We passed through the Cairngorms Mountains on our way to Ballater.  
The scenery was beautiful.



I could live here...


Kay liked this view which shows the meanders in the River Dee.   This indicates it is a very old river.


We stopped to visit a small custom craft cheese company.  It was a one building operation with only a handful of employees.  The tour included visiting the actual production (which I did not do, since I have viewed cheese production in the Neverlands, France and Italy).  I did partake in the samples provided, which were enough to satisfy our need for lunch.


We spent some time in Ballater, just a few miles from the Queens Scotland Castle which she visits for several weeks each summer.  It is not uncommon to see the Queen in the streets here.


We didn't see the Queen, but we did have a very delicious ice cream to finish off our lunch of cheese, fruits and oat cakes.


An activity Malcomb had arranged for us was a presentation by an experienced forager.  This is Elaine and she has been foraging for over 20 years and she is quite knowledgeable about the edible and medicinal plants in the area.  I admit, I wasn't expecting to really get a lot from this program but I was wrong.  She was very interesting and informative.  She actually talked about some plants I knew only from my Pharmacognosy (study of drugs from natural sources) class in pharmacy school.

After leaving Elaine, it took about an hour to reach Aberdeen and our hotel, The Sandman Signature Hotel.  It is located in a previous Robert Gordon University building on St. Andrew St.  The hotel of 218 rooms is part of Aberdeen's granite conservation area as well as being one of the largest granite buildings in the world.

The decoration is very eclectic and the ceiling in our room must be 12 or 13 feet tall.








After setteling into our rooms and a brief orientation walk, we decided to seek out dinner.  It only took us about one block to find a likely candidate. O'Neil's Irish Pub





Carl had the double burger - HUGE


I elected the mixed Irish grill - beef steak, chicken breast, Scottish sausage, fried egg, roasted tomato and mushroom, green peas and chips (fries).   All this for 11.75 pounds, a little over $14.00.  It was fantastic washed down with a Guinness.  Kay and Janet had the Mac and cheese which they both agreed was very good.

We were back to the hotel a little after 6:00 PM (we decided not to enjoy the Irish Pub into the evening).  

I'll tell you about tomorrow... well, tomorrow.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 39 - August 19, 2022 - Dublin - Glendalough

-
Image
 We were fed, packed and on the coach by 8:30 AM.  I learned the difference between a coach and a bus today.  A bus runs a regular route and picks up and drops off riders.  A coach is a hire for a specific purpose.  Denis, our guide, who has his share of Irish humor and blarney also said the difference between a coach driver and a bus driver was about 10 Euros a day. Our entertaining trip leader, Denis, who hales from Killarney in south west Ireland. Our first start today was at Avoca Handweavers Mill in Wicklow. Manual loom which was in use for production until a few years ago. One of the modern looms now in use. Following lunch at the Avoca village, we travelled another hour to the site of Monastery village of Glendalough. The countryside is stunningly beautiful here.  Glendalough is a glacial valley in County Wicklow, Ireland, renowned for an Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin. The fine tower, built of mica-sla...
Read more

Day 41 - August 21, 2022 - Fly from Dublin to Atlanta

-
 Well, our adventure in Scotland and Ireland has finally come to an end.  Since our flight from Dublin Airport wasn't until noon, we had a leisurely morning.  Our checked bag had to be outside the room at 7:00 AM, so we went down for breakfast at 7:15.  Our cab ride to the airport picked us up at 8:15.  There were eight of us who left at this time.  Six of us were on the same flight to Atlanta. Check-in was straight forward, but it was a slow process.  For some reason it took longer than normal to process each passenger.  After getting our boarding pass we proceeded up two levels to security.  This also took a while.  After clearing the airport security, we had to proceed to US security clearance.  This involved another full security check, including shoes off, etc. and going before a US customs agent.  The total time for check-in and security checks was about one and one-half hours.  The plus side is that when we arrived ...
Read more

Day 40 - August 20, 2022 - Dublin

-
Image
 There is not a great deal to post about today.  At 9:00 AM we boarded the coach for a 2 1/2 hour city tour.  It was interesting, but few stops for photos, so not much to share.   Ivy covered building in the Georgia Period style. A section of the original Dublin Wall dating from 1240 AD The parking area in front of an elementary school, I thought this was neat. We visited Phoenix Park, a 1700 acre entirely walled park.  The U.S. ambassador to Ireland has his home here.  There was a race of some nature taking place and runners were everywhere. Wellington Monument, not the most popular person in Ireland.  This of course was erected during British rule. Construction began in 1817 and opened in 1861.  It is 203 feet tall. The Guinness brewery, which is a very popular monument in Ireland. After the drive, we were given admission to the Epic Immigration Museum.  It is a large multimedia museum which is has been voted a top European Museum....
Read more