Hi friends,
We were blessed to finally be able to take our bucket list trip to Scotland in April! It was the most amazing trip in such a beautiful country! We planned our trip through Nordic Visitor Travel Agency and we can’t say enough about how great they were to work with. From the first phone call they wanted to make the trip what we wanted. Shout out to Duncan for all his help!! We even had a couple of issues come up during the trip – flat tire and ferry not running – and they were on top of things helping us and changing hotel bookings. If you’re ever heading to that area of the world, I highly recommend Nordic Visitor to help plan your trip. 😊
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We opted to do a self-driving tour around Scotland. Our trip lasted 16 days so we were able to see a lot of the country, but not nearly all of it! By having our own rental car, we were able to see and do the things we wanted without being part of a tour. It worked great for us even though my husband was ready to turn the car in by the end of the trip! 😉 Driving was on the opposite side of the road for us with the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car – took some getting used to. Also the roads, especially in the rural areas, are narrow with lots of curves. And lots of single track roads, too.
Scotland is filled with castles and castle ruins. We didn’t even begin to see them all! Here are the castles we did see and a little about each one. The history of this country is just incredible and I don’t pretend to know even a fraction of it, but I’ll share a bit of what I’ve learned. 😊 I’ve also included some links if you want to learn more about any of the castles.
Edinburgh Castle sits high above the city at the top of the Royal Mile with a gorgeous view of Old Town. The oldest building on the castle grounds is St. Margaret’s Chapel built in the 12th century – it’s the photo on the right below. The castle was damaged over and over, but repaired and rebuilt with most of the buildings now dating from the 16 century. There is so much Scottish history here. I highly recommend joining a tour as you visit Edinburgh Castle.
St. Andrews Castle is on the east coast of Fife. Built originally around 1200, it was captured, dismantled, and rebuilt by both sides during the Wars of Independence until 1337. Eventually, it was abandoned in 1592 and fell into ruin. The Great Hall collapsed into the sea in 1801 and more of the castle was lost until a sea wall was built in 1886.
Dunnottar Castle was by far the most striking of the castle ruins we saw. It sits on a rock outcrop in Aberdeenshire surrounded on 3 sides by water and rocky cliffs – a true stronghold! William Wallace and Mary Queen of Scots were both hosted in this castle. In the 1650’s, the castle played a role in the safekeeping of the Scottish Crown Jewels from the army led by Oliver Cromwell. It was a very cold and windy day and our time was limited, so we opted to not make the hike up to the ruins. I can only imagine how amazing it would be up close!
Drum Castle also in Aberdeenshire has a square tower-house, one of the three oldest surviving in Scotland. You can see it on the left in the first photo below. It was built in the late 13th century. Drum was granted by Robert the Bruce to his standard-bearer William de Irwyn and had stayed in the Irwyn family until 1976 when it was bequeathed to The National Trust for Scotland. Below are photos of the library and the dining room.
Crathes Castle is just a few miles down the road from Drum Castle. It was built in the 16th century. We didn’t tour the inside of the castle, but walked around the grounds and gardens – and were lucky enough to hear a pipe band!
Corgarff Castle in the left photo below is sadly not open to the public right now. The tower was built in the mid 1500’s and then abandoned in the 1600’s. The lower tower was used as a Redcoats barracks from the mid 1700’s until 1831 when it was abandoned again.
Inverness Castle sits on Castle Hill overlooking the River Ness in Inverness. A fortification has existed on this site since the 6th century. There were several different castles built and destroyed until the castle that is there today. It was built in the 1800’s when it was rebuilt as a courthouse and prison. There are renovations going on now and they hope to open it to the public in 2025.
Dunvegan Castle and Gardens is on the Isle of Skye. It is the ancestral seat of the MacLeods for 800 years with the 30th Chief of Clan MacLeod, Hugh Magnus MacLeod, living in the family quarters now. It is worth the time to take the tour and then stroll through the magnificent gardens. They were just coming into bloom when we were there.
Eilean Donan Castle sits on rocky island where 3 lochs come together near the road coming back to the mainland from the Isle of Skye. It’s connected to the mainland by a causeway. The first fortified structure was built in the early 13th century. The castle went through many changes during different battles and eventually went to ruin after being neglected for 200 years. In 1911 Lt Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap bought the island, restored the castle, and opened it to the public in 1932.
Urquhart Castle is along the shores of Loch Ness. It was one of Scotland’s largest castles. The original castle was built in the 13th century, but the ruins there now are mostly from when the castle was rebuilt in the 16th and 17th century. The castle passed back and forth between the Scots and English during the Wars of Independence. It was blown up in 1692 by the troops who had occupied it after the Jacobite uprising of 1689 so that it could not become a Jacobite base in the future. We looked for Nessie but we didn’t see her. 😉
Stirling Castle, in Stirling, is surrounded on 3 sides by steep cliffs. The first photo is from afar as we were driving into Stirling on a cloudy, misty day. The second is the entrance to the castle and the third is the outside of the Great Hall. The castle dates from the early 12th century with most buildings there now built between 1490 and 1600. The castle changed hands 8 times in 50 years during the Wars of Independence.
I’ve just barley touched on the history of these fascinating castles and castle ruins. It is truly amazing when you think of how long ago they were built without all of our modern equipment!
I have lots more to share with you about our trip but since this post is so long, it will have to wait until another day. 🙂
Anita
Creating Me 