We have returned from our 18-night trip to Scotland, and are finally starting to post about it -- we were busy while on the road. We started the trip with a three night stay in Edinburgh (Edin-burra) and two nights in Glasgow (Glas-goh), Scotland's two largest cities. We enjoyed them both.
Edinburg is clearly the historical and cultural center of Scotland. It is a lovely place with a charming old city and a well-designed new city with a good mix of restaurants, theater, etc. Below you can see some of the city's newer museums, but on the left is the old city, topped by Edinburg Castle at the rear.
Scotland has a very interesting (and bloody) history, which we will be discussing in future posts, but it also has a very strong intellectual history. Edinburg was the home of many famous thinkers during the Industrial Revolution including philosopher David Hume, inventor James Watt and economist Adam Smith, often considered the father of capitalism.
Perhaps the most famous Scot of this time, who is credited with reviving the traditional culture of Scotland after the 1707 Act of Union merging Scotland and England, which would ultimately lead to the English destruction of the Scottish way of life, is the author Sir Walter Scott. His monument in Edinburg, at a height of 60 meters, is believed to be the largest to a literary figure in the world, and was begun only 8 years after his death, a testament to how influential he was even during his lifetime.
Two other local authors, Robert Lewis Stevenson and the poet Robert Burns are also very much reverved in Edinburg, with a small museum dedicated to the three located in the old city. We spent one evening on a Literary Tour and Pub Crawl learning much about their influence.
A much later Scottish author supposedly based her Diagon Alley on this cool street in the city. There is even a store that claims to be the basis for Olivander's Wand Shop.
Of course, Scotland would not be a European country if religion did not play a big part in its history. Ultimately, the country went through a Protestant Reformation, but adopted a different form of Protestentism than in England (of course). St. Giles' Cathedral is lovely and has a statue of John Knox, one of the leaders of Scotland's Reformation.
The primary site in Edinburg, which looms over the entire city, is Edinburg Castle.
The castle is huge, and its commanding presence on a volcanic plug overlooking the city made it a wonderful defensive position for almost 1000 years -- the first castle was built in that location during the reign of Malcom III in the 11th century. The British military still has a post there.
Before leaving Edinburg, we want to mention one more famous Scot -- Dolly the Sheep, the first successfully cloned mammal. Dolly now resides in the National Museum of Scotland.
From Edinburg, we took the train to Glasgow, which is a much more working-class city. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our day walking around the city and seeing the various sites including the Royal Concert Hall showing the city's coat of arms, which represents the life and legends of the city's patron saint, Saint Mungo; and the ubiquitous war memorial (much more on Scotland's role in the "defense" of the UK later).
We were also really amused by this beautiful old building, the Charing Cross Mansions, one of the oldest and grandest residences built in 1891, which, of course, now has a Burger King at street level.
After five days in the major cities of Scotland, we collected a rental car and headed for the beautiful west coast. More about that soon.
Hasta pronto.
Jeff and Shana
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