J On our last full day in Edinburgh we walked up to Calton park which has the royal observatory and allows a great view of Arthurs Seat, it also has some cool roman columns and some tower which was a monument to some dude, but alas they wanted to charge us £3 to get in so we took a picture and left.
We used the city bus system today, went to Portabella beach, which was very nice, took a walk in the sand with our bare feet. Then we got lost going this way and that on the bus system, an all day ticket was £2.5 or $5 compared to £9 or $18 for a tour bus system that takes you to all the major sites. Still we enjoyed ourselves, I bought a Hard Rock Cafe T and Michelle bought a bra from a department store. We spent the evening at a local pub listening to traditional music (live) and chugging back a few strongbow. I had too much to drink, ended up sick later on, and suffering a hangover the next day. I learned a lesson.
Friday morning we were up bright and early and off to the Island of Skye, on a bus, with 27 other people and a Scottish man in a kilt! Looking back it was an amazing adventure but we wish we had done it over 4 or 5 days because we spent a long time on the bus, as Skye is pretty far away.
The first day we saw an ancient battlefield known as Culloden, where after King James I was defeated the English decided to stop any further uprisings and began what is now called the Highland clearances. Basically it was an all out genocide of the Scottish highland people, they were raped, murdered, and forced to flee. Then, as the English started to realise the potential for wealth that sheep rearing could bring, they started systematically removing highlanders from their homes, taking titles and politely asking them to leave, otherwise moving in with force to kill and destroy. It was a very sombre experience learning these things, and realising that what happened in Ireland could never have happened in Scotland because the Scottish had been brutalised so that they would never pose a threat again.
The second day of our tour was spent exploring the island of Skye, we weren't' fans of the fairie-tales for which there were many, but the landscape and history was interesting, and the views as we drove up these tiny mountains (or big hills) were breath-taking. After an amazing day, three dozen pictures and a hike straight up the side of a mountain (to see the Old Man of Storr), we settled down and had dinner at the local neighbour hood pub. We made some friends on our bus, but also met two travellers that were working out of the Hostel, one an Aussie and the other a fellow Canadian. They answered many questions we had and got us pumped up for Ireland!
The last day seemed like a long one, being that we were spending most of it on the bus again. We saw Castle Doune, used in Monty Python and the quest for the Holy Grail. Clencoe where 38 people (from the MacDonald clan) were murdered by order of the English for signing a document 5 days late, and finally we saw the awesome William Wallace monument, which was pretty cool looking from the outside, but alas we didn't have time to go on the tour of the structure, not to mention saving another £6.50.
It was an very enjoyable 3 days, we learned a lot, saw a lot, and sat on the bus at lot. lol
Back in Edinburgh, we scored a bed in a 10 room dorm that only had 3 couples in it, which was very nice. We met a very friendly Aussie couple and talked their ears off for most of the night, made ourselves some pasta, showered and hit the sack early. We had a great sleep and now as I sit and write this Michelle is hauling our bags and checking us out of the hostel.
Next up, we're onto Glasgow! Only for the night though, as we have a flight with EasyJet to Belfast tomorrow. We'll probably post again somewhere in Ireland. Caio
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3 comments:
If you want to see or do something - do it; it may be your one and only opportunity in your lifetime to experience something. This is from my life experience; don't cheap out, just do it and you won't have any regrets!!!
This advice excludes sky-diving, and bull-fighting.
Wait a second. When you say William Wallace monument, are you talking about the real one or the Mel Gibson statue? Cuz that thing's hideous!
And I say if you want to sky-dive, do it! It's AWESOME!! (Sorry Kathy!) :)
haha yeah the statue of William Wallace looks remarkable like Mel Gibson, although apparently it wasn't suppose to, and when locals saw it they were outraged. In fact one night vandals defaced it, literally! It's been refaced however, but now it's protected by a big steel cage at night.. that's right folks, Freedom! within a cage. lol
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