the long awaited Scotland update

The past week was what is referred to as "half-term" it use to be called "reading week" but the name was changed when it was made clear that no one actually did any reading. My week was spent in Scotland with my friends Zuzana and Andy. We drove in a giant circle around the island and managed to accumulate over 900 miles of driving - impressive, i know.

Zuzana and I flying to Scotland....

the view i had most of the trip

our sweet lil' car

the long and winding road

(the red is our drive and the purple dots are where we stayed)

Our wonderful trip started on Tuesday when Zuzana and arrived in Glasgow where we were met by Andy and our wonderful rent-a-car. From here we began our journey to Fort William where we spent our first night at the foot of Ben Nevis, the United Kingdoms tallest mountain. On our way we stopped alot to take pictures of the beautiful mountains and scenery. The autumn colors were amazing on the mountains and there were waterfalls and streams all over them as well as lochs (pretty much lakes) almost everywhere we drove. We also stopped at the bridge from Harry Potter - the one that the train goes over to get to Hogwarts. It was GIANT and really really cool. That afternoon i tried some of Andy's haggis which is sheep heart, liver, and lungs. It was really very good.....but then i fully understood what was in it. We spent the night in a youth hostel and the next day went on a little hike (6 miles) around Ben Nevis. It was a nice trail that followed a waterfall/river. After hiking for an hour or so we rounded a corner and were in a hanging valley - basically we climbed up but then found ourselves on a plain. It was pretty amazing and had a super cute little cottage and a huge waterfall on it. We hung out up there for a bit and ate our lunch while Andy crossed a precarious bridge to investigate the waterfall.the first loch we stopped at

some of the amazing scenery

the bridge from Harry Potter

Zuzana on our hike

in the hanging valley

After the hike we went to a castle (one of many to come) and continued our drive to our next hostel in Kyle of Lochalsh. The drive was, again very very beautiful and we stopped to take lots of pictures. On our way we visited Eilean Donan Castle which is on its own little island, super cute. The second hostel we stayed in was right on the loch and surrounded by mountains - very cozy and cabin like. The three of us made an interesting pasta for dinner and stayed up reading, playing jenga, building with the blocks, and playing scrabble. On Thursday we went to the Island of Skye which is really beautiful as well and covered with sheep, mountains, and hairy cows {aka highland cows}. We ate breakfast and i had my first taste of lorne sausage - quite tasty.

playing some games in the hostel

the view we woke up to Eilean Donan Castle

breakfast on Skye

After driving around Skye we drove to Loch Ness and looked for Nessie with no success. Then we continued the trek toward Aberdeen with a stop in Inverness. The town is really super cute and there i had doner for the first time which is not really a Scottish thing...i guess its a middle eastern thing but its super popular here. Its considered a kabob but not like how i imagine a kabob, the meat is like a jumble of random meats and parts and its cooked on a spiket thing. It tasted kinda how you might imagine thin, warm, bologna to taste. So yeah......anyway....after Inverness which, as i said is an adorable place we ended up in Aberdeen where our friend Ruth lives as well as Andy. Zuzana and i spent the night at Ruth's house. Her family is so sweet, especially her parents with thier Scottish accents. We had a great night.

at Loch Ness

Inverness at night

Friday we went around Aberdeen and saw some more castles and saved a ladybug. Then ate lunch in a cute green house. It reminded me alot of Gales especially the Christmas display :) We went to an awesome beach and played and frolicked (<- perfect word for what we did) in the ice cold water barefoot. That night Andy's Dad took us out to a delicious Chinese restaurant - i think it was the best Chinese iv ever had. We spent that night at Andy's house and left the next morning for Edinburgh - the capital of Scotland.

a castle in Aberdeen....i dont know the name of it.

a lady bug!

saving a lady bug....

the wonderful Zuzana and Ruth

the beach far below the cliffs....

that we climbed down and ran on

just before Ruth got soaked

While Andy was at his nephews pirate birthday party, Zuzana and i wondered around the city. We went to the castle and then spent the whole day on this super cute cobblestone street where we went in pretty much every shop and sat on a bench to people watch. Almost everywhere we were we could hear someone bagpipeing which, while i felt extremely touristy, added to the feel of being in Scotland. The whole city is really cool and has alot of old architecture. The castle is set up on a hill right in the middle and everything is kinda layered on top of each other, its really beautiful. We met back up with Andy in the afternoon and had a brief visit of the art museum before going up to a really cool lookout point and walking past the brand new and very modern parliament building. Then we ate dinner and headed on to Glasgow. There we wondered around a bit and spent our last night before coming back to Belfast on Sunday.

our (brief) stop in Dundee

Edinburgh

a bagpiper - how very Scottish

Zuzana and I eating and people watching

Edinburgh at night

All in all the trip was amazing, it was so diverse with the beauty of the west coast and the awesome cities on the east coast. Even with our random group - a Slovakian, Scotsman, and American from age 20 t0 28, from random backgrounds all road tripping through Scotland - Zuzana and Andy were both really fun to travel with and we all got along so well. I reeeeally hope to go back to Scotland some day. I dont know why i never really concidered the country before this trip but it has such amazing history, culture, scenery, people, places.....i could go on. So half-term was wonderful and now im back in Belfast which is also wonderful because everyone is here. Im so happy to have met all of the amazing and diverse people here and i really hope these friendships last till long after i leave.

we heart Scotland

one more scenery picture just for kicks

photos courtesy of Zuzana, Andy, and Myself.