{"id":16596,"date":"2022-12-25T11:21:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T05:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=16596"},"modified":"2023-04-23T12:42:41","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T07:12:41","slug":"isle-of-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2022\/12\/25\/isle-of-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"Isle of Skye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Stay<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The one on the top left was our room. That meant a good view of the water.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The little village of Portree. There were plenty of eating\/drinking, and enough shopping options for us to be charmed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The best viewpoint in Portree, IMO. You can see Pier Hotel down by the water.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
When we were about to say goodbye, Portree said good morning! This was a beautiful sunrise, and as is usual, impossible to really capture on camera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

See\/Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I think one of the big reasons this tour became a highlight of our vacation was Sean (whom James Bond is named after :D) and our amazing group of a dozen folks (Julia, Chelsea, Rachel, Tudor..) from different parts of the world – Germany, US, Romania, Japan, Australia… Watching the England v Wales match in a Scottish pub with this group was an absolute highlight. This has given us a benchmark for the kind of tours we would like to do in future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After leaving Edinburgh, we passed Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument, and Doune Castle before stopping at Callander for pies and coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Loch Lubnaig, which was amazing to look at, and freezing, though we still had campers going for practically skinny dips! Very WTF.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The landscape reminded me of the Norwegian fjords<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Now I realise why people try to name a place ‘Scotland of x’. The meadows are sigh…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The colours started changing once we neared Glencoe and the Three Sisters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Glencoe is also the homeland of James Bond. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The turf house at the Glencoe Visitor Centre, an installation that gives an idea of the life here 200-300 years ago.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Heilen Coo, or the Highland Cow couldn’t care less about hoomans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Quiraing Pass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
In addition to the Quiraing, we stopped at a bunch of breathtaking views.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Those floating structures are salmon farming <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Kilt Rock, but we were excited by the rainbow! This also close to Staffin, whose beach has dinosaur footprints! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Fairy Glen, which really lives up to its name with the chimney and house shapes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Neist Point is awe-inspiring<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
If there is enough daylight, you can walk 30 mins and get some fantastic views<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Leaving Portree, catching the Five Sisters of Kintail, and the reflections in the puddle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Eilean Donan Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The evening view when we passed it on the way to Portree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Loch Ness was all mist when we reached there<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The mist cleared, but no sign of Nessie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eat\/Drink<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A distillery visit – Dalwhinnie, where we had a custom Scotch and chocolate tasting. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
At Dulse & Brose in Portree, where D and I had local gin and beer respectively<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A Charcuterie Board including local venison<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
D went for wine, while I continued on the local Skye beer at Cuchullin. We had also visited their brewery earlier in the day. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Fish & Chips, finally<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Salmon, for D<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
D had Strongbow Cider for company as we watched England v Wales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Chicken Breast @ Antlers Bar and Grill, The Portree Hotel. The place had an old-world charm that we absolutely loved. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
While I ate the duck, I tried the Talisker Skye too! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A visit to Scotland is incomplete without a trip to the Highlands. Thanks to a three day tour run by Rabbie’s Tours, we used Portree as a base and managed to cover a fair bit of ground. This was the highlight of our vacation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5336,6608,17],"tags":[6636,6635,6633,6634,6631,6629,6625,6623,6626,6621,6628,6622,6632,6630,6619,6617,6637,6627,6618,6620,6624],"class_list":["post-16596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-scotland","category-travel","tag-antlers-bar-and-grill","tag-cuchullin","tag-dalwhinnie","tag-dulse-brose","tag-eilean-donan","tag-fairy-glen","tag-five-sisters","tag-glencoe","tag-highland-cow","tag-isle-of-skye","tag-kilt-rock","tag-loch-lubnaig","tag-loch-ness","tag-neist-point","tag-pier-hotel","tag-portree","tag-portree-hotel","tag-quiraing-pass","tag-rabbies-tours-2","tag-scottish-highlands","tag-three-sisters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16596"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16794,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16596\/revisions\/16794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}