The rest of Scotland Days 69 -72

Saying good-bye to the island of Skye, what a place and what a Hostel, thanks again Brian and Lisa, at the amazing SkyeWalker Hostel. "Right on", Sweet! (LOL)

We stop at the Eiliean Donaan Castle , on the way out towards Fort William which is one of the worlds most photographed castles. We didn't go inside this one, we have seen a "LOT" of castles in Scotland. Favorite is Dannator outside of Stonehaven (S of Aberdeen).

From here we head down through the upper highlands into Glencoe with magnificent views of this mysterious historical area. We see the bridge from Harry Potter (@ Glen Finnan), in which Addi is thrilled to have the experience now of seeing the Hogwort school in Edinburgh and the restaurant 'Harry Potter' was wrtiten and now the bridge. He finished the most recent Potter book on this trip in less than a week, and read the one before the week before that, so this was great for him.

We arrive in Sterling where we stay at the Willy Wallace Hostel. How appropriate being this is Bravehearts stomping ground. We go to see the Wallace monument and Sterling Castle as well as the battle field where Robert the Bruce fought at Bannockburn.

We spend a day in Glasgow, which won back a few years ago best European cultural city . There are some lovely buildings in Glasgow and the Glaswegeans are immensely friendly, being that my father is from Glasgow I had to love it, and did. We tried to hook up with some of my relatives, but unfortunately couldn't get a hold of them. 

We noticed how old some of the pubs were (mid 1600's) and met two older chaps standing outside the pub that seemed to know more about Canada than we did. That is one thing we have noticed talking to the people of Scotland is that they all have a relative in Canada some where and they also know their History and facts.

We visited a beautiful Cathedral in Glasgow (St. Mungo's - the only Scottish mainland church to suvive the Reformation complete) along with the oldest house in Glasgow. It was a city that deserved more time, which at this point we were running short of. 

We took in a KT Tunstall ( a Scot) concert in Galsgow which was fun, for the whole family enjoys her music, and another week later Fiest (a Montrealer) was playing in Edinburgh which would have been nice. She put on a great concert in her homeland.

The last day in Scotland we still had a rental car form our journey to the outer Hebredies so off to Rosslyn chapel (just out of Edinburgh) before coming back to catch a train to start our journey towards England.

The Rosslyn Chapel of course made its most recent claim to fame from the book and movie the Da Vinci Code. But if you look a little further into it, you will find that it  has long been a mystical and church with much history (barely escaping the ravages of the reformation). The kids got a quiz to fill out in regards to all the fascinating details/intricacies in the church too numerous to mention (I'll mention a couple - there are over 50 carvings of the 'Green Man' located in all kinds of spots in the church, 2- there is a 'Death Mask' of Robert the Bruce on the church wall, OK, lets do 3- there is a crypt underneath the church that hasn't been accessed in over 300 years where the Templar Knights where laid out in their armor sansa coffin. 

Well worth a visit!

Scotland days 57-69 Roots of Magnificent Magical Marvel

I think this might end up being the longest blog.  Before I start I just wanted to say thank you to 'Clearmind Ireland' and the fantastic workshop I felt  honoured to be part of.

From the moment that we landed in Edinburough I felt a sense of belonging. Our first  few days in this Grand City (Natalia' words) and truly this is the case. We had heard it was beautiful but had no idea. The architecture and lay out of the city was stunning. We hit a cold snap not that Scotland is known for its balmy weather, although for some reason the inspiration that we were all feeling for this city of Grandeur made us feel warm inside.

Harry Potter has its roots in this city with the author writing at a cafe that we visited, called the Elephant House. Later in this blog we will add some more pictures of the train seen from the Harry Potter movies in the Highlands where we head to tomorrow.

From Edinburough we head to Aberdeen where we enjoy a trip outside to Dunnotar castle and the surrounding area.(stunning) The trains are great here and we have enjoyed relaxing and looking out the window at all the beautiful scenery.

From Aberdeen onto beautiful Inverness where we rent a car for the next portion of our journey going to Lochness and onto Findhorn. Addi and Nee Nee loved LochNess and hearing the tales and Findhorn was a place that Borys and I have wanted to go to for about 10 years. What a treat to be there.

Onto the Isle of Lewis (home of Harris Tweed wool) in the outer Hebredies to visit the ancient Standing stones of Callanish and the old blackhouse village where we saw how people lived in the country side of Scotland. The stones were a very special place that we all felt the power of their mystery, and then some. This island has beaches that were nicer than Crete by far with white sand and aquamarine water, you would swear you were in the Caribbean, except for the temperature (lol)

We went to listen to some Music at a hall that we met a great alternative rock band called the Wallbirds, they were among a few bands that we heard. This was a beautiful island and also has a big Presbyterian community that is quite strict with the sabbath for the church goers, it was quite something to watch out of the hostel window in Stornoway,   to see people dressed in their Sunday finest heading to church, and nothing is open on Sunday , and you're not allowed to play golf. Or anything really. So we went to our church, "the beach". The Hostels in Scotland totally rule. We have had so much fun meeting people from all over, Scotland seems to be a real destination for nature lovers and History. Which we have been bursting with excitement the whole trip of the scenery history and people.

The Scottish people are over the top friendly with such an authentic way of conversing from the heart, in conversation. We have laughed so much here.

Also another amazing thing is that on these islands the main language in some areas is Gaelic and the schools are Gaelic first and then English. It was their original language in Scotland until the English came in and said there will be no more of that.

Scotland is really an independent place and are moving toward being their own country which in all reality is how it should have been from the get go. Scotland has the Scots which are the Celts that came from primarily Ireland way back when and mixed with Norse and the Picts which all intermingled creating this mixture  of celtic blend, of blondes to Dark, to lots of redheads as well. The picts are a tribe they don't know a lot about, but my suspicion is that they were like the first nations people of Scotland. 

There is Mystism here that is palapable here in areas that makes me feel my roots from long ago.

Onto at this point I would have to say the highlight up till now of our trip in Scotland  was the  Isle of Skye. Gee, where to start, first of all known for its beauty and that for sure is the case. It once was a Volcano mixed with Jurassic elements. We are staying at an independednt Hostel called the Skyewalker which is a must for anyone going to Skye, which we choose knowing that the couple that own  the place were musicians and love to jam and play. This has been a soulfully rich experience sitting with our new friends in the evening with   mountain climbers and hikers singing Scottish Folk songs as well as Irish songs and of course Borys jumping in with some of his diddys.  We had so much fun and many laughs with Lisa and Brian(Right On) personal joke. They are outstanding muscians with harmonies from heaven. Beautiful old Scottish folk songs  mixed with Irish and there own original music. What a treat!! Oh and Brian harmonica playing rocked!

There have been many beautiful places and countries that we have visited, but we all agreed that this is a place we could actually live. 

Spring has sprung on the Isle of Skye and on a lovely sunny spring day we go for the most amazing hike of our trip so far, the scenery is Scotland at its finest.Going for wee donner, which means a wee walk. Natalia lead the way most of the while, and we all had a hard time keeping up. Great hike and the beauty was amazing.

This is almost a diffucult  blog to write due to finding words of our experience here. Profound, moving, Joyful and maybe the best word would be inspiring.

Oh yes, the Scottish Beer is most excellent. Aye it is!!!

We will be heading from here to Sterling - the home of William Wallace, and then onto Glasgow to meet my relatives that I have never met, how exciting!!

You will also see Borys and our lovely guest and I having a Celtic night of dressing in our finest.

What an education it has been here with our lovely hosts at Skyewalker hostel where we have learned so much more about Scotlands amazing history and met the finest of  fine of Scotlands people right here in Skye where we have invited Lisa and Brian to come to our island, anytime .We hope you take us  up on it!

So until Sterling and Glasgow, as they say in Scotland - Cheers, and will add more pictures to this blog at the end of Scotland. Gee, the end of Scotland, we will surely miss it a wee bit here, that's for sure!!! ps pictures are more in order to the write up from the bottom up...........Cheers, and we will see you a wee bit later, Aye!