Category: Scotland

  • Glasgow

    Glasgow was the last of our Scotland destinations, and our primary interest here was the street art. Unlike Edinburgh which had a historical character to it, Glasgow, or at least the parts we visited had a standard city vibe. The only exception was probably the university premises. As usual, we explored the city on foot, but found the First Day pass (bus) pretty useful when the distance was too long.

    Stay

    We stayed at the Motel One on Oswald Street, which was close to the station, main streets, and had a bus stop right in front. While their entire play seemed to be on design, we found quite a few things off – the check-in rush, the room design in terms of space utilisation, the design of the breakfast area, and the breakfast itself. Thankfully, the time spent here was low enough for this not to be a major irritant.

    Our overall reaction to Motel One, Glasgow

    See/Do

    The Duke of Wellington (right in front of the Gallery of Modern Art) continues to be decorated with a traffic cone, despite every effort by the city authorities.
    An interesting install at the Gallery of Modern Art
    The Citizen Firefighter statue on Gordon Street
    Glasgow was dressed up for Christmas already. There were multiple markets – St.Enoch, George Square, Sauchiehall Street…
    The Botanical Gardens just made us sigh a lot, just thinking about the quality of life.
    At the Kibble Palace. A good representation of me on the first working day after the vacation!
    The University of Glasgow
    Inside the Hungarian Museum. Mild Dracarys feel.
    A stroll along the Kelvin Walkway will help you finish your quota of sighs
    The Glasgow Cathedral. Closed by the time we got here. We were also too late to catch the Necropolis view.
    Street Art (the first of our favourite dozen) Thomas Muir
    Today we’re in love, aren’t we?
    World’s Most Economical Taxi
    Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (I liked how the car fit right in!)
    Bubbles (Part 1)
    Bubbles (Part 2)
    The Musician
    Technically not street art, but I thought they did a good hat tip to the genre. (The Ubiquitous Chip is also apparently a great place to dine)
    (part of) Strathclyde University
    St.Enoch and child
    Saint Mungo
    Barras Pirate

    Eat/Drink

    Garlic & Thyme Chicken Breast @ Cranachan
    Cranachan Burger (beef with haggis fritter)
    The cake version of the traditional dessert named Cranachan (what we came for!)
    The Spiritualist is a go-to place if you’re in the mood for some genuinely innovative cocktails. D had a Raspberry Beret (which arrived in a white chocolate covered glass!) while I tried their Smoking Old Fashioned
    Pork Carnitas Tacos
    The Duke’s Umbrella became a favourite, for a fantastic mix of old world charm + new age aesthetic and service
    An Old Fashioned for me, and a Dark Chocolate Negroni for D
    Potted Beef & Bacon
    Cumbrae Oyster
    ‘Winston’ at The Finnieston, another favourite
    A fantastic Shetland Mussels in Coconut Broth
    The Impersonator for D
    Squid Ink Risotto
    Pork Medallions at Mharsanta, who managed to find us a table despite the weekend rush.

  • Isle of Skye

    What’s a visit to Scotland without a trip to the Highlands! Thanks to the Rabbie’s Tours itinerary, we were able to cover a decent bit of ground in 3 days.

    Stay

    Our base technically was Portree, where we stayed for two nights at the Pier Hotel, run by a very homely Effie and family. The place is right next to the water, and less than 5 minutes walk from the town square. The building, Effie told us while making us breakfast, was more than 200 years old. But for a small stay, it’ll do just fine.

    The one on the top left was our room. That meant a good view of the water.
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  • Edinburgh

    Prologue: The original trip was planned in 2020, the rest is history. When we set about planning this, the original destination was Cuba, but a Canada transit visa thwarted us. We decided to make it Scotland+Ireland. Since we were only 2 months away from the trip, tickets too turned out to be a pain, especially because, thanks to Brexit, pretty much every European airport required a transit visa. And embassies were still reeling under post-Covid volumes. Long story short, we managed to land in Manchester via Doha right when the World Cup started. The adventure continued because there was a rail strike on the day we required a train to take us to Edinburgh. Thankfully, we had an inkling, so we had also bought bus tickets as back up. Absolute lifesaver. But thanks to delayed trains, our bus had to stop midway for more than an hour because we had ‘missed’ a few passengers! All of this meant that our planned time in Edinburgh was curtailed. And now we can begin!

    Stay

    We’re still not Airbnb people, so Ibis it was – Edinburgh South Bridge. It was about 10 mins from the bus and train stations and pretty much everything we wanted to see was within walking distance. They also served a great (though same) buffet breakfast. Having said that, I’d also recommend looking for options on Princes Street.

    See/Do

    Edinburgh Castle. If you want to go inside (the internet is mixed on whether this is worth it) , you need to buy tickets online.
    Pretty view of the city from the castle grounds
    Tolbooth Kirk, now known as the Hub
    A short walk will take you to the Vennel steps that give you a different view of the castle.
    St.Giles Cathedral has quite the majestic look
    ..and the inside is a different level. I loved the sense of tradition one gets as you go through the lists of people.
    Greyfriars Kirkyard was extremely serene
    Dunbar’s Close, along the Royal Mile, turned out to be an extremely pretty hidden gem
     Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland.
    Same place, different view (as you get out of the tour)
    From Calton Hill, you get a grand view of the city. The sun chose to hide when we visited.
    The Christmas Market had just begun on the weekend we landed.
    Greyfriars Bobby spent 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died in the late 1800s. The pub was our lunch spot.
    Scottish Whiskey Experience. An experience that’s absolutely worth it.

    We visited the Camera Obscura but unless you have children who need to be entertained, I’d skip this. We also went for a Horror Tour, and though the guide did her best, the content itself was not worth the hour.

    Eat/Drink

    Haggis is a must-try, so long as you’re the kind who is not particular about the components! That, and black pudding, was part of the Ibis breakfast I could get used to!

    D’s cider and my house Old Fashioned @Greyfriars Bobby
    Did not become a fan of Cullen Skink, a thick Scottish soup with smoked haddock, onions, potatoes.
    Game Suet Pudding – pheasant, and venison pastry in port wine sauce
    Cider, and Old Fashioned again, this time at Copper Still
    Chicken in Mushroom Sauce
    Shelling it out

    We visited in winter, and thus had limited daylight time – the sun set at 3.45! But we managed to see pretty much everything we had on our list. We did wish we had allocated a few more days. Overall, I felt Edinburgh exudes a certain character thanks to its rich history, and traditions. Except for the kitchens closing early in some parts, we totally loved the place.