We’re home from our 8 day trip to Scotland and I have SO MANY photos to share! (big surprise there 😉 ). Each blog post will have a ‘theme’ of sorts, and we’re starting out with the castles! That’s the first thing many people have asked us about – “How gorgeous were the castles?” – Well! You can decide for yourself!
First up: The famous Edinburgh Castle. It sits high on a hill in the heart of Scotland’s capitol, and you can pretty much see it wherever you are in the city centre.
The view from the top.
Loved all their pretty lanterns.
Next up, Stirling Castle, which, as the name suggests, is in the little town of Stirling. Nate and I liked this castle the best, not only because it was the most beautiful, but also because they did a really good job of explaining how the royals might have lived back in the day. It was nice to have a little context while looking around all the old rooms.
The walls were blocked off, but we found a break in the fence and climbed up anyways. Come on, you only live once! You can’t tell in this next photo, but it was SO windy!
We next visited Blair Castle, at the Atholl Estates. This castle was really more a palace. It had very elaborate interiors (but we weren’t allow to take pictures) and I think I read somewhere that a descendant of the Dukes of Atholl still lives in one of the wings. Also, it has ties to Athol, Mass, which is a small town in Western Mass. Random, right? And also, also, people get married there. So, um, call me if your wedding is at Blair Castle!
Those were the three castles we went inside. For the rest, we just stopped off on the side of the road so we could take some pictures. These ruins of Castle Stalker (weird name haha) were on a little island on the west coast that we just happened to drive by. Cute, right?
Eilean Donan was gorgeous from the outside and had a great bridge. It was a little pricey for the fact that it was being renovated and we couldn’t have seen half the castle anyways, so we opted to just look from afar.
Urquhart Castle is on Loch Ness (yeah, the one with the monster!) (but we didn’t see the monster.) (but the castle was still great.)
So there you have it! All the castles we visited and saw. I’m glad we got to see so many, because this was the main subject Nate talked about in the weeks leading up to our trip. “I can’t wait to see all the castles!” “I’m going to live in a castle someday.” “The castles are going to be so cool!” He knows what he likes =)
Next up, the views and the nature!
~Stephanie
You made it to Eilean Donan. At least you have to admit the setting for it is gorgeous, right on a small island in the loch.