Edinburgh, Scotland: Day Two

Day two started pretty early. I grabbed some breakfast at the hostel, and met up with Kara and Anna. We had signed up for a tour of the Highlands. The Highlands are known for a number of things, but everyone I talked to said that it was a must to see when you go to Scotland. We checked in for the tour, and met out driver/guide Dave, who only added to the tour!


We drove through Sterling, Doune, and made out first stop at Kilmahog. Dave informed us that the most famous Highland cow, named Hamish is here. He told us that there aren’t many left, and I thought what could be so special about a cow. Turns out Hamish is basically a big, furry, cute cow who actually responds to his name! We got to feed him, and after a few photos of the area we headed on our way. Our next big stop of the day was a town called Oban, but we had quite the drive to get there. We passed a number of glens and lochs along the way, which were surrounded by snow capped mountains.

For those of you who don’t know what a loch or glen is, you actually do. The English call them lakes, the Scots call them lochs; and the English call them valleys, the Scots call the glens. I noticed that even today, the Scottish aren’t very fond on the British even after all this time. As we continued on our way we saw a number of castles, some which were burnt down in the midst of war, others where dukes and duchesses still live today. We finally arrived in the beautiful port city of Oban. The town was buzzing with tiny shops and restaurants right near the boardwalk. We stopped for lunch there, and wandered around the town. I wish we could have stayed longer; there was still a lot that we didn’t get to see while we were there.

The trip to the Highlands took the entire day, but it was well worth it. It is hard to describe in words what it was like, but I took plenty of pictures to show you. We headed back towards Edinburgh, for our last night in town. We were famished by the time we got back and grabbed a bit to eat at Pizza Express, which was delicious! We headed back to our hostel, changed and decided to go to a traditional Scottish Pub. We walked into the Scotsman Lounge; it was a small room which was filled to capacity. Everyone was cheers to the day and dancing to the live band, Ranctum Sanctum. That was probably the best part of the night, hearing the rich lively Scottish band. It was the end of another night, and it was no surprise that we were all really tired.

I woke up the next day, packed everything into my backpack, and checked out. I had some time before my coach was going to be leaving, and there was still one place I wanted to see, The Elephant Room. It is this cozy café where many famous authors would often go to right the beginnings of their novels. J.K. Rowling the author of Harry Potter would go to the very back where you had a view of Edinburgh Castle, and would draw inspiration for her book from the city. I left the café and started making my way to catch my coach back to London. The weekend was perfect. I never thought Scotland was going to be one of those places that I would say, “I have to come back here,” but it was. There is still so much that I wasn’t able to explore, but I was able to see I absolutely loved.

Slàinte mhath! (Cheers to your good health)

Pictures: Edinburgh Day 2